Fantasy Football For Breakfast (Wed, 7/17)
Relevant Fantasy Football news is coming out more and more as of late. We're just a few days away from training camp and there will be injuries, depth chart changes, coaches hyping their guys and of course, a tsunami of speculation. Let's see what's out there today!
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TITANS OC WILL 'RIDE' Derrick Henry
NEWS: New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith says he intends to "ride" Derrick Henry in his contract year.
ANALYSIS: First, this tidbit of news is literally a throwaway line in a larger article from the Titans' official website. The author doesn't use a direct quote, instead it could be a paraphrase. A bit of creative license as they call it. And even if Smith did say he would "ride" Henry, we can't take news like this as gospel.
Let me also point out, Smith has zero experience as an offensive coordinator. Let me break down his coaching resume: 2006 Grad assistant at UNC. 2007-2008 Defensive quality assistant with Redskins. 2010 Defensive intern & admin assistant (!!!) at Ole Miss. 2011 with the Titans as a defensive quality control coach, offensive quality control coach, OL & TE assistant coach, assistant TE coach, TE coach (for the past 3 seasons) and now he is OC.
I don't know what you're taking away from this but all I can say is I already didn't like the Titans' style of play. I think I'll REALLY not like it in 2019. Henry is still a RB2 in my book with potential to destroy the universe one stiff-arm at a time. But Henry has been in the league a while now and he always pops off at the most random times. Best ball? Love him. Redraft? Meh, I can't trust him so I can't reach for him.
EMMANUEL SANDERS NOT A FULL-GO FOR CAMP
NEWS: "I want to be ready for Week 1," Sanders said. He also added he will "definitely not going to be full go from the jump." Sanders is continuing to recover from an Achilles injury sustained during a practice in early December.
ANALYSIS: Previous reports & updates had him being healthy around this time in July. When a player has a genuine take and I feel it's genuine when it's not positive news. I take it to heart. Most athletes speak as though they're Drago from Rocky IV. "I must break you. I defeat all men. You will lose. If he dies, he dies. All your bases are belong to us."
And I get it. This is their livelihood and they've got to believe in themselves in this competitive environment where there's tons of money (and ego) on the line.
So again, when a guy says he's shooting for Week 1, which is a little over seven weeks from now, you have to take notice. Because even then, he's probably being a little optimistic right? That's what he wants to happen. So he's not even aiming for some Week 3 preseason reps. He's hoping for Week 1.
Sanders was having an improved season last year with 71-868-4 in only 12 games, putting him on pace for 94-1154-5 if he played all 16 games. This is also because the Broncos basically had very little working at the WR position. So my takeaway here is this. I did a Google search for returning to football after Achilles injury and found this link. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this statement but it says: "Of the 31 players who sustained an Achilles tendon rupture, 21 (64%) returned to play in the NFL at an average of 11 months after injury. In the three seasons following their return, those 21 players saw significant decreases in games played and power ratings compared to the three seasons preceding the injury."
Long story short, I'll pass on Sanders. 11 months after injury puts him at a November return and that's just the average.