Derrick Henry Finally an Elite Fantasy Football Option

Teaming with quarterback Ryan Tannehill last season made the Titans running back consistently productive

Derrick Henry’s run to the 2019 NFL rushing title has made him an elite fantasy football option for 2020.

Unpredictable throughout his first two-plus seasons, the Tennessee Titans running back set the stage for what was to come when he rushed for 585 yards and seven touchdowns over the final four weeks of the 2018 season.

Now, according to SI.com fantasy sports analyst Jaime Eisner, he should be a top-five pick in standard scoring leagues.

Henry rushed for 75 yards or more 12 times in his 15 games last season and scored at least one rushing touchdown in 11 contests, including two in which he did not have at least 75 rushing yards. He was particularly productive from Week 7 on, when Ryan Tannehill was Tennessee’s starting quarterback.

Last season, a survey of four prominent fantasy football sites found that Henry’s average draft position was 36th, which is the final pick of the third round in a 12-team league, and 19th among all running backs.

From Eisner:

If we include Week 17, Henry averaged 21.6 fantasy points per game with Tannehill, the best total among all running backs. Even if you take out the season finale, Henry was second only to McCaffrey among running backs in average fantasy points per game (19.5 FPPG). Henry is back in Tennessee and has Tannehill for a full season. There's no reason to believe he can't be a workhorse again this season, with the added bonus of him being a strong finisher during the fantasy playoffs.

Henry is not as much of a factor in the receiving game as other running backs, which diminishes his value in PPR (point-per-reception) leagues. In that case, five of the top 12 players are wide receivers and Henry falls behind running backs such as Alvin Kamara and Austin Ekeler.

In four seasons, Henry has 57 receptions for 578 yards with three touchdowns. Eight different running backs had more than 57 catches in 2019 alone. Three had more than 600 receiving yards.

Still, he is the central figure to the Titans’ offense, which means he won’t be passed over too often in any fantasy league, regardless of the format.