Fantasy Injury Updates: Latest news on Derrick Henry, James Robinson, Rob Gronkowski, more affecting Week 9 waiver pickups

Derrick Henry, James Robinson, Rob Gronkowski, and T.Y. Hilon all exited last week’s games, though Henry was able to return and handle a normal workload. More developments have come out after the game, so this is a situation worth monitoring. Week 9 fantasy waiver pickups, rankings, and start ’em, sit ’em calls could be mightily affected by these ailments, so let’s get into the latest injury updates.

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WEEK 9 WAIVERS: Top pickups

Derrick Henry injury update

We might have some earth-shattering news on our hands, as Henry reportedly suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury against Indianapolis. This is obviously big news in the scope of the NFL and in fantasy, as he’s been the most dominant RB in both regards up to this point.

It seems as if Henry will at least miss a significant portion of time, but we don’t know for sure it’s season-ending yet. Stay tuned later in the week as he undergoes an MRI. If he’s out, the Titans will likely trade for a veteran RB like Ronald Jones or Mike Davis, but until then, Jeremy McNichols will be penciled in as the in-house starter. This will have a big effect on the Week 9 waiver wire, and since the trade deadline is Tuesday afternoon, we’ll all know who to target before waivers are cleared.

WEEK 9 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

James Robinson injury update

Robinson suffered a bruised heel against Seattle, and his timetable for return is unknown at this point in time. A bruised heel is an uncommon injury, so we’ll let later reports speculate on how long he’ll be out, but this is obviously a situation to this week.

If Robinson is fine and ready to go next week, we rank him as the RB14 in standard leagues  and RB11 in PPR leagues. Buffalo’s defense is one of the best in the league, but assuming Robinson is healthy, he should be in for a huge workload and get a ton of work through the air. If he’s out, Carlos Hyde figures to be a low-end RB2, but touchdowns could propel him higher. Hyde is one of our top priority waiver adds.

WEEK 9 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Rob Gronkowski injury update

After missing a month of the season with a ribs injury, Gronk reportedly suffered back spasms in Week 8 against New Orleans. Bruce Arians said Gronkowski “probably shouldn’t have played.”

We’ll have to monitor his situation moving forward, but Tampa Bay is on a bye, so we may not have much information until next week. For fantasy purposes, you knew you couldn’t start him next week anyway, so continue to look for a Week 9 streamer at tight end.

T.Y. Hilton injury update

Hilton was sidelined following a brutal hit against Tennessee, which eventually led to him being evaluated for a concussion. We can’t necessarily speculate on a head injury, but with the Colts having a quick turnaround to Thursday Night Football against the Jets, it’s hard to think he’ll be ready to go. That said, we don’t know much yet about his situation, so stay tuned.

If he does play, we love the matchup against a struggling Jets secondary and rank him as the WR36 in PPR and WR33 in standard . If he’s active, surely he won’t be on a snap count as a concussion is an all-or-nothing injury.