Derrick Henry Fantasy Football News | Shark Bites

Titans RB Derrick Henry assumed his usual role as the clear carry leader in Sunday's loss to the Saints. Henry rushed 15 times (for 63 yards), while rookie Tyjae Spears claimed the other 3 RB carries. Spears picked up 27 yards, including a long gain of 17. He also factored significantly into the receiving game. Spears' 4 targets edged Henry's 3, and the rookie had a fifth negated by a defensive penalty. Spears logged just 1 catch (officially) for 1 yard. Henry caught 2 of 3 looks for 56 yards, delivering the team's longest play with a 46-yard catch-and-run. Spears also notably drew a target on each of Tennessee's first two third-down plays. The rookie has to grow his role further to become a standalone fantasy option, but this was a decent start. Henry gets a better matchup with the Chargers in Week 2.

The Athletic's Joe Rexrode recently wrote that Titans rookie RB Tyjae Spears "is going to matter" to the offense in 2023. Rexrode shares that Spears "will start the season as the third-down back" and perhaps eventually "warrant some carries and pop up in some creative looks" as part of a tandem with starter Derrick Henry. This is a notable read on the Titans' backfield, considering a second RB has yet to make a strong impression in the Henry era. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2018, Henry has led all NFL RBs in carries (1,464) and stayed above a 77.6% share of Titans RB carries in the last four seasons. Fantasy managers should still treat Spears as a handcuff for now, but there's some late-round intrigue should he emerge with a small pass-catching role. Dynasty managers must also remember Henry is set to reach free agency in 2024. See where the Titans' backs appear in our current RB rankings.

Titans insider Jim Wyatt writes that RB Tyjae Spears “was among the team’s offseason standouts.” Wyatt specifically notes the rookie’s “shiftiness and speed.” Those traits certainly showed up on his Tulane tape. Then, Spears confirmed his exciting athleticism at the combine with a 91st-percentile vertical jump and an 87th-percentile broad jump (per MockDraftable). Currently the No. 2 RB behind Derrick Henry, Spears is a late-round handcuff worth circling on your cheat sheet.

It's easy to be wary of Titans RB Derrick Henry in fantasy football. The 29-year-old exceeded 300 carries three of the past four years. The player aging curves that guide our dynasty projections say RBs see a bigger production drop-off at this age than any other position -- even among elite types. It would be quite abnormal for Henry to continue producing strong numbers. But Henry has always been abnormal, even among high-end NFL rushers. More importantly, he didn't show signs of decline last year. Henry actually improved his yards after contact per attempt, elusive rating, and Pro Football Focus rushing grade vs. his 2021 numbers. His rushing yards over expected rebounded from 0.05 per attempt in 2021 to 0.45 last season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, despite a weak Tennessee offense and average O-line. Henry also did all of this despite seeing 8+ defenders in the box at the league's second-highest rate among RBs. The Titans drafted RB Tyjae Spears in Round 3 and might push some work his way. But we expect Henry to remain the workhorse in a run-favoring offense with an aging QB and mostly questionable pass catchers. Best of all, Henry's early ADP (late in Round 2, often into Round 3 in best ball drafts) lowers the risk to betting on him in fantasy. See how Henry's spot in our fantasy football rankings compares.

The Titans selected Tulane RB Tyjae Spears in Round 3 of the 2023 NFL Draft. Spears is the small-school darling of this 2023 class. He put up monster numbers over his last two seasons at Tulane, including a total of 1,837 scrimmage yards that ranked 4th in the NCAA in 2022. He wasn’t a highly regarded high school recruit and didn’t do much early in his career due to an ACL tear in 2020. He even considered quitting the team and going home during the rehab process. But Spears persevered. He’s an incredibly flexible athlete with great elusiveness and long speed. One of the dangers with Spears is his frame (5’10, 201 pounds), especially given how skinny his legs are and his injury history. That said, it seems likely his pass-catching skills will get him on the field in Tennessee. That’ll be his main role for 2023, assuming Derrick Henry sticks around. Spears has the talent to emerge as Tennessee’s lead back come 2024.

The Titans have promoted passing-game coordinator Tim Kelly to OC. 2022 was Kelly's first season in Tennessee. He spent the previous 3 years as Houston's OC. Those first 2 Texans teams had middling finishes in points and total yards under QB Deshaun Watson before sinking to bottom-3 levels in 2021 with QBs Davis Mills and Tyrod Taylor. It's not an overly inspiring hire by Tennessee. Expect the offense to again revolve around RB Derrick Henry in 2023.

The Titans have hired Ran Carthon as their GM. Carthon has been the 49ers' director of player personnel the past 6 years and held the same role with the Rams the previous 5 years. At the top of his to-do list this offseason will be figuring out what to do at QB, where 34-year-old Ryan Tannehill carries a $36.6 million 2023 cap hit and Malik Willis is coming off an ugly rookie campaign.

The Titans fired OC Todd Downing. He deployed slow-faced, run-heavy offenses the past 2 seasons. Tennessee sunk from 17th in total yards and 15th in points in 2021 to 30th and 28th this past year. We'll see who the Titans tab to run the offense going forward -- and if that guy will open up the passing game a bit. RB Derrick Henry turned 29 last week, and Tennessee has a couple of intriguing, young talents in WR Treylon Burks and TE Chig Okonkwo.

Titans RB Derrick Henry (hip) was a full participant in Tuesday's practice. It's confirmation that he'll be ready for roll for Saturday's must-win game vs. the Jaguars.

As expected, Titans RB Derrick Henry (hip) is inactive for tonight's game vs. the Cowboys. He'd be playing if this game meant anything to Tennessee and will be back out there for the finale against Jacksonville. Rookie Hassan Haskins is expected to operate as Tennessee's lead back tonight but should be considered just a low-upside RB3 in fantasy lineups. The Titans are implied for 13.25 points.

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero has confirmed what we all suspected: that the team "fully" expects RB Derrick Henry to be ready for full use against the Jaguars in Week 18. Henry is doubtful for tonight's game against the Cowboys, listed with a hip issue. But he finished the week with 2 limited practices. He's clearly just being held out of a game that has no bearing on the Titans' playoff hopes. Pelissero added that rookie RB Hassan Haskins is in for a big role and didn't mention RB Julius Chestnut in his report. So Haskins sounds like the guy if you need a Titans runner. We wouldn't go out of our way to target this situation, however, in what Vegas projects to be the lowest-scoring offense of Week 17.

The Titans list RB Derrick Henry as doubtful for Thursday night's game against the Cowboys. He has been listed with a hip issue all week but put in limited practices Tuesday and Wednesday after sitting out Monday. This is clearly a move by the Titans to save up some key players for a Week 18 meeting with the Jaguars that will determine whether they make the playoffs. With Henry out and Dontrell Hilliard already on IR, the Titans will turn to Hassan Haskins and Julius Chestnut. With 11 and 5 carries for the season, respectively -- 7 and 2 targets -- neither is a strong bet to grab the clear backfield lead. Try to avoid this offense altogether in your Week 17 fantasy football lineups.

Tennessee's Week 18 game against the Jaguars will determine the AFC South champion. The Titans can't get a Wild Card spot, which makes their game vs. the Cowboys on Thursday night meaningless. Jim Wyatt of the team's official website believe the Titans will hold out some starters out of that one. The big question, of course, is whether that will include RB Derrick Henry. We'll keep you updated on the situation. If Henry is held out, rookie Hassan Haskins would step in as Tennessee's lead back and enter the RB3/Flex conversation.

Titans RB Derrick Henry (hip) was listed as a non-participant at practice on Monday. The Titans are set to face the Cowboys on Thursday night in Week 16. With the quick turnaround, it'll be essential to see Henry log some participation soon. However, this injury didn't seem to affect the veteran on Saturday vs. the Texans. That certainly bodes well for his Week 17 availability. We'll keep an eye on this as we get closer to Thursday.

Titans RB Derrick Henry rushed 23 times for 126 yards and a TD in Saturday's loss to the Texans. That marked a disappointing performance vs. his previous 4 meetings with the Texans, each of which found Henry exceeding 210 rushing yards and scoring at least 2 TDs. But it's tough to complain about the big guy averaging 5.5 yards per rush against a defense that knew he was coming the whole time. Henry boosted that by scoring his TD from 48 yards out, meaning that he averaged 3.5 yards on his other 22 attempts. He gets a tougher matchup with the Cowboys on Thursday night of Week 17.