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It took an injury to Blaine Gabbert to make the change official, but the Jacksonville Jaguars will now turn to Chad Henne as their starting quarterback. Gabbert will miss Week 6 against the Denver Broncos after suffering a hamstring injury against the St. Louis Rams in Week 5, and he may remain on the bench even after beeing deemed healthy enough to play.
The change under center is good news for the fantasy stock of Jaguars’ wide receivers Cecil Shorts and Justin Blackmon, but should fantasy football owners consider adding Henne?
A favorable matchup will come in Henne’s first start of the season, as the Broncos have allowed 20.8 fantasy points (ESPN scoring) to opposing quarterbacks so far this season, including the most passing yards (365.4 per game) to the position on the third-most attempts (208; 41.6 per game) in the league. The 506-yard, five touchdown performance of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in Week 5 skews these numbers a bit, but the proficiency of the Broncos’ offense has forced opposing teams to throw the ball a lot in order to try to keep pace.
If Henne starts again in Week 7, another favorable-looking matchup will come against the San Diego Chargers, who enter Week 6 allowing the second-most fantasy points (24.2 per game; ESPN scoring) to quarterbacks with zero interceptions in their last four games. Three of the quarterbacks San Diego has faced (Michael Vick, Jake Locker and Terrelle Pryor) bolstered their production with rushing yardage, and Vick and Locker both had a touchdown on the ground, but it’s still shaping up as a good matchup for Henne.
Henne is a solid choice as a plug-and-play QB2 in 12-team leagues for both Week 6 and Week 7, assuming he starts both games, particularly for owners that have Matt Ryan or Drew Brees on a bye those weeks. A tougher matchup is coming in Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers, but Henne could be a worthy option that week as well, since he should be throwing the ball a lot and six teams are idle.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
