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With Cam Akers out, should fantasy managers draft Darrell Henderson?

Scott Pianowski and Corbin Young discuss Cam Akers' injury, what this means for Darrell Henderson heading into the 2021 season.

Video Transcript

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Cam Akers sounds like he's done for the year with a blown Achilles. Darrell Henderson steps up, presumably as the starting back. You would think the Rams would add depth, but I don't know that there's a franchise running back just floating around for free right now. Corbin, [? if ?] [? you ?] [? had ?] an idea of what you would do with Darrell Henderson if you're stepping into a draft today, and just how do you see this Rams backfield?

CORBIN YOUNG: Yeah, I think Darrell Henderson definitely probably-- I think he was probably going past like RB 40 or so, but he's probably got to jump up into the RB 2 range or-- I'm a little worried he's it's going to be more in that RB 1 range, kind of just as a-- just kind of as a, you know, once an exciting prospect kind of waiting our turn here, and he might kind of jump up into that RB 1 range if that happens.

Maybe a little too expensive for my liking there, just because, you know, I just expect another back to be kind of rotating in a little bit there. But the competition is limited as we're looking at the depth chart there. So yeah, so I think if we can-- Darrell Henderson's easily an RB 2 candidate.

And he showed a little bit of, you know, some flashes kind of in the early parts of the season, you know, just-- nothing too crazy, but he had a, you know, relatively decent workload of, let's say, 15 to 20 carries in several games there. So, you know, there's some good touches there. He didn't quite have that upside that Cam Akers showed kind of down the stretch, but you know, if he's going to get most of the opportunities in that Rams offense, you know, will be a valuable player, I think.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: My general gut feeling is that I think I'm going to be underweight on Henderson. I'll probably have less than what would be a normal proportion of him in my draft portfolio when it's all said and done. It's just a gut feel today. If I were to ask you, Corbin, do you think you'll be overweight on Henderson, about maybe average weight on Henderson, or maybe underweight on Henderson, what's your gut feel right now with this news pretty fresh?

CORBIN YOUNG: Like, I think, you know, obviously, he's going to skyrocket, but at the same time, yeah, I'm trying to look at guys like, you know, after that, you know, number 12 running back range. Like, am I going to take him over Aaron Jones? Probably not. Am I going to take him over Najee Harris? I don't know if he's going to get-- you know, he might get more overall touches.

So I think there's a lot of guys that like, by the time I get to that point, you know, he may have already been drafted with some of the hype. So yeah, I think I'm with you there, that he may go a little earlier than I expect, and so probably just-- you know, I'm OK if I miss on him.