Fantasy Football 2019 Player Profile: Derrick Henry

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans plays against Darius Leonard #53 of the Indianapolis Colts at Nissan Stadium on December 30, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans plays against Darius Leonard #53 of the Indianapolis Colts at Nissan Stadium on December 30, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
NASHVILLE, TN – DECEMBER 22: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans runs the ball in for a touchdown and avoids the tackle of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix #20 of the Washington Redskins at Nissan Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans defeated the Redskins 25-16. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN – DECEMBER 22: Derrick Henry #22 of the Tennessee Titans runs the ball in for a touchdown and avoids the tackle of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix #20 of the Washington Redskins at Nissan Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans defeated the Redskins 25-16. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Fantasy Football: Player Profile – Derrick Henry

Worst Case Scenario for 2019

While the ceiling outlined previously for Henry is sky-high, the argument can be made that the floor is as low as the ceiling is high.

If you phase out the last four weeks of the season, Henry was barely a startable asset in fantasy, as outlined below by Josh Norris of Rotoworld;

Not only was his volume reflective of a back in the heat of a committee, but he also had virtually no involvement in the passing game, as he’s recorded less than 40 total receptions throughout his career. This doesn’t look like an aspect that Dion Lewis will lose ahold of, which is a massive blow to Henry’s value in PPR formats.

On top of that, the Titans’ offensive line is nothing to write home about, as they rank in the bottom half of the league in run blocking and bottom-5 in the league in pass protection while allowing the running backs to get stuffed on 18.9% of their carries, showing some glaring inabilities when it comes to protecting the backfield.

The struggles of the offensive line in Tennessee have also been a factor in the overall offensive struggles of the Titans, leading to a lot of negative game script for running backs. There won’t be many occasions where the Titans are up by 2-3 scores looking to milk the clock, which is where a ground-and-pound player like Henry would make his killing.

Combining all of this with the fact that he’s yet to appear in a preseason game due to a lingering calf injury and you have a massive amount of red flags surrounding an early-round selection. We could very well see Henry revert back to his 40-50 yards per game with a touchdown every 3-4 games and struggling to maintain fantasy relevance.