I am in a keeper league and have been offered a trade for Derrick Henry. I am assuming I will not be able to use him this year, but could keep him for next year.
Here is the offer:
D. Henry for Corey Davis and Eli Mitchell.
Here are my RBs and WRs:
Elliott (cannot keep next year)
Ekeler
Mitchell
Hubbard
Mike Davis
Pollard
D. Moore
K. Allen
T. Boyd
A. Robinson II
C. Davis
I am wondering if it is worth forgoing the points this year in order to keep Henry next year, or just stick with my team and keep Ekeler next year?
In 2020, including the playoffs, Henry had 418 touches. in 2019, he had 409 touches.
In 2021, he broke down for the first time.
Few RB’s have one or more 400 touch seasons followed by an injury, and then come back to greatness. RB’s under that kind of intense pressure rarely continue to hold up and do great. Even if his foot is 100%, it could be his knee or hammy or something else. Expect an injury.
I traded Henry away before the season, because I knew his odds of making it through another 400 touch season were growing against him. Remember, he’s been amazing, but he’s only human.
The best thing for his career would be an RBBC, which would allow him to take less punishment while still being the efficient pounder he can be. I would love to see him traded to the Falcons, where he could be teamed with Cordarelle Patterson and they could both be awesome, but that’s a pipedream.
Heavily utilized running backs never last long. That could also be a concern for Ekeler, who already had a nagging injury last year, and is now seeing a workload like never before. And he’s no spring chicken anymore.
This comes from an Ekeler owner who’s excited about his current production (that did not come as a surprise to me), but who’s anxiously scanning the Chargers’ injury reports every day.