Reports: Henry fighting suspension
A few more weeks. That's all Travis Henry needed before cycling out of the league's substance abuse program on October 1. But it appears Henry didn't make it to freedom and that's why he's suing the league in an unprecendented move to stop the NFL from testing his specimen and "suspending from his employment with the NFL," according to Newsday.
There are so many questions that need to be answered over the next few days, but here are a few things to consider.
1. There's a very real chance Travis Henry won't play football again this season, but we don't know anything for sure. The NFL appears to be fighting the case in the courts currently. I'm no lawyer; I'll leave that to Florio. But Henry wouldn't have taken these legal steps if he wasn't in deep trouble. The NFL wouldn't have filed papers Monday if they didn't want the case resolved.
2. Selvin Young has top-15 value as a fantasy back if he starts for the rest of the season; it's the system, stupid. Not to mention the love Mike Shanahan has for Young, calling him starter material and finding ways to work him into the offense. With a very limited sample, Young has looked fantastic, averaging nearly ten yards-per-touch on 15 carries and five catches. Mike Bell should not compete for this job. Andre Hall will probably slide into a backup role, while Bell or Cecil Sapp move back to tailback.
3. With all this said, there is still a chance as I write Thursday night that Henry could play this week. Denver has a bye in Week 6, and one would imagine the NFL will get the issue squared away before Denver comes back.
What a night. As a Selvin Young owner in multiple leagues, I can't deny that a smile crossed my face when I saw Evan Silva's email pop up on my Blackberry with the Yankees were going down in flames in the background. It should go without saying that Young needs to be owned in all leagues. We'll be back with more in the morning, but it looks like Henry has added to the year of the first round fantasy bust.
In the meantime check out ...
* The original Newsday report
* Profootballtalk.com
* ESPN's story
* Denver's Post story
* Rotoworld's forum thread on Henry
Comments
I cannot stop smiling! SELVIN YOUNG TIME BABY!!!!!
I hope it was worth it Travis.....that binger just cost you your best shot at a rushing title and career validation.
Posted by: Beau | October 4, 2007 10:53 PM
What are those who don't have Young supposed to do? My RBs were Cadillac, Henry, Bush, LaMont, Brandon Jackson and Kevin Jones - now all i have are Bush, Jordon and Jones, i can't make the playoffs w/that! Suggestions? Help! WRs are no better - AJ, Boldin, H.Ward, Cotchery, Megatron, and Crayton.....
Posted by: Travis Owner | October 5, 2007 12:06 AM
Ha! My team is back baby! I was the first in my pool to notice the breaking news, and got young on waivers within minutes. It helps to be a fantasy sicko refreshing Rotoworld every 15 minutes, 16 hours a day! 8.3 YPC in a Bronco running system? I'll take it. Even if it falls to half of that as a starter, I'll be happy
Posted by: TOFin | October 5, 2007 12:34 AM
My question is just how much to attempt to pay for him in the leagues that he was recently picked up by others (on the hunch that Henry was hurt) because they, being worse teams, had a higher waiver priority.
Posted by: rageon | October 5, 2007 01:21 AM
@ Travis Owner
I'm in 2 leagues and in only 1 of them was I able to snatch Selvin Young before anyone else.
The other league, I have great RBs so no worries.
However, I have some extremely nasty BYE weeks where I will need to replace 1 or more Running Backs depending on the BYE Week.
Best solution?
WEEK 5 solution:
MICHAEL PITTMAN
(or)
RON DAYNE. Heck why not? He'll produce better numbers this time around.
LONG-HAUL SOLUTIONS:
I took KENTON KEITH and DOMINICK RHODES.
Both backups are extremely talented and seem to have injury prone starters in Addai and Jordan.
Maybe one of them will become the next "Selvin Young" if Jordan or Addai goes down for a few games.
Posted by: Jeff MacMillan | October 5, 2007 05:51 AM
I hope they pick up someone like M. Moore from the Vikes instead of playing Young you flamers...be glad your in a league that doesn't limit RBs to 4 so you can't handcuff. I hope all your children are downs midgets.
Posted by: Derek | October 5, 2007 06:13 AM
Derek,
Next time if you want better rules... Be the Commissioner:-)
Posted by: Jeff MacMillan | October 5, 2007 07:39 AM