Buy, Sell, Hold for Fantasy Football Week 9: Can Derrick Henry Overcome Lamar Jackson Loss?

I spent the morning looking at all of my leaguemates' fantasy football rosters, and I suggest you do the same.

Can we talk about running backs? Let's talk about running backs.

Buy, Sell, Hold for Fantasy Football Week 9

BUY: League-Winning Upside

I'm trying to win a championship here!

Bhayshul Tuten | RB | JAX

(Monitor his ankle, as he was not seen at practice Tuesday.)

If I am gunning for the playoffs and a championship run, I want Bhayshul Tuten.

If I'm stacked at WR, I'm hoping I can trade them away for Bhayshul Tuten.

The only way I don't succeed in acquiring Bhayshul Tuten is if I already roster Bhayshul Tuten.

Or if the Bhayshul Tuten manager loves Bhayshul Tuten as much as I do…

RELATED: Dwain McFarland's Week 9 Utilization Report follows the data to identify this week's top waiver wire options, trade targets, upgrades and downgrades. Find Fantasy Life's suite of Utilization Tools here.

Keep An Eye On Trade Potential RBs (And Their Backups)

Keep an eye on the trade rumors this week.

Jonathan Taylor might head to a team with a successful offense. Does Breece Hall get moved despite Aaron Glenn stating otherwise? Does Tony Pollard get moved to a committee? Might be worth buying Braelon Allen & the Backups for cheap now….

SELL: Injury-Plagued Offenses

The signs are there. The red flags are flying.

I'm out.

Derrick Henry | RB | BAL

I talked about the Nightmare on Henry Street last weekend. And whether you subscribe to the idea that Derrick Henry's decreased fantasy success is attributed to tougher defensive matchups or the absence of Lamar Jackson…

You no longer have to decide.

Henry will be facing tougher matchups in the near future. In fact, six of Henry's final nine games are sub-par matchups.

FPPG allowed to the RB position by defense:

Week 9: JAX | Allowing the fewest
Week 14: TB | 2nd fewest
Week 15: PIT | 9th fewest
Week 16: CLE | 14th fewest
Week 17: CIN | 10th fewest
Week 18: PIT | 9th fewest

And to make matters worse, Jackson injured his thumb during Week 8. Henry will be without Jackson for weeks (with some rumors indicating a potential rest-of-season timeline for his absence as he heals).

Neither of these is good news for Henry in the long run. And it's possible more single-digit fantasy weeks lie ahead for him (especially during the fantasy playoff stretch).

Saquon Barkley | RB | PHI

The Eagles have recently said they don't plan on trading Saquon Barkley. And right now, Philly is in shambles.

As everyone knows, Jalen Hurts is out for the season. But Philadelphia is also frequently missing key playmakers in the WR room in DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Dontavion Wicks (ankle).

But despite the injuries, we finally started to see Barkley begin to dominate against a porous Dallas run D in Week 7… That is, until he was sidelined in the second half with a new injury.

UGH.

The red flags are everywhere. The Eagles are 2-6. Barkley only managed 30 yards on 13 touches in Week 8. And he has a couple of tough matchups sandwiched around his bye in Week 10.

While it's possible he finds some success down the stretch in Weeks 14-17 against teams like Indianapolis and Houston, we don't know what the Eagles' offense will look like. Who will be healthy? And will they find enough success through the air to open things up for Barkley, assuming he can stay healthy himself?

I'd rather jump ship now and move onto someone more reliable.

HOLD: RBs With Annoying Usage

Ashton Jeanty | RB | LV

Something wicked this way comes. And it's Ashton Jeanty's decreased rushing attempts (only 6% in Week 8).

Regardless of the reason (o-line problems, blocking issues, injuries, etc.), Jeanty is not performing as we had hoped. But it feels silly to sell now, when your leaguemates have lost faith in his elite fantasy capabilities.

We're still seeing Jeanty succeed in the passing game, which makes me more hopeful. But he hasn't seen more than 10 rush attempts since Week 4. And we need Las Vegas to let him run the ball, too.

Bijan Robinson | RB | ATL

It's crazy to say this, right?? But not having a single touchdown since Week 4 is starting to wreak havoc on some people's emotional status. Fantasy managers are humans, too. And when the losses start to stack up, and your emotional support RB is no longer bringing 30 points to the table, worry sets in.

But listen. Even when Bijan Robinson's QB was in shambles, throwing four interceptions against a divisional rival, he was still able to squeeze 76 yards out of an otherwise tough-to-watch performance from Atlanta. Talent will prevail.

There will be sharks in your DMs trying to acquire Robinson. They'll assume you're stressed about the way Atlanta played in Week 8 and the fact that Robinson hasn't found the end zone in a month. They'll hope to strike on a "buy-low" opportunity that they read about online.

So for the sake of someone saying it and saving you from a mistake: HOLD.