If you’re a Derrick Henry owner in fantasy football, your team is likely winning its fair share of games this year. Unfortunately, your team (alongside the real life Titans) just got dealt a massive blow as it was revealed that Henry suffered a foot injury during this week’s game against the Colts.
The league’s leading rusher will reportedly undergo surgery on Tuesday morning and is out “indefinitely” for the moment. Making matters worse, the Titans just finished putting backup RB Darrynton Evans on the injured reserve last week meaning he’s out for the season. With no clear cut backup to absorb some of Henry’s otherworldly usage rate, the Titans will be forced to look elsewhere to fill the massive void in their backfield.
Adrian Peterson, currently 36 years old, has been signed to the Titans practice squad with the expectation that he’ll be immediately promoted to their active roster. Peterson is 5th all time in NFL rushing yards, yet found himself without a team to start the 2021 season. AP suited up for all 16 games last year in Detroit piling up 604 yards on 3.9yds/attempt.
While his numbers of late have been a far cry from his last All-Pro season in 2015, he did manage to eclipse the 1000 yard plateau in 2018 as a member of the Washington Football Team. If you’re a Henry owner, there is no one you can claim off the waiver wire who will come close to matching his production. But putting in a claim for Peterson will at least give you some options as we approach the fantasy football playoffs.
Some other choices who may be worth a claim if you find yourself suddenly RB needy include Kansas City’s Derrick Gore (2% owned in Yahoo! leagues), your preferred poison out of Boston Scott or Jordan Howard in Philadelphia, or Ronald Jones (25% owned in Yahoo! leagues) and hope that he’s traded ahead of the deadline tomorrow.
Simply put, this is a huge loss for the Titans and fantasy owners alike. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery to King Henry.