Fantasy Football: The Impact of Chad Henne's Season-Ending Surgery

You probably weren't starting Chad Henne in your fantasy football league. Henne appeared to bust out in Week 1 with 416 yards passing, two passing touchdowns and 59 yards rushing with a TD on the ground. But most fantasy owners were skeptical, and rightly so.

Jeff Darlington of NFL.com is reporting that Henne has opted to undergo season-ending surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. For most teams, this probably just means you need to find a new backup QB if you had Henne in a deeper league. But the actual impact of his injury could run much deeper.

For starters, the Dolphins are now 0-4 and probably convinced that Henne isn't the answer at QB. With the Bills appearing to be on the rise, the Dolphins are now probably the worst team in the AFC East.

Get where this is going? The Dolphins don't have much to play for. Most observers expect head coach Tony Sparano to be fired before the Dolphins come out of their bye week. The Dolphins are clearly in the Andrew Luck hunt.

So what about the rest of the Dolphins? What should fantasy owners do if they own Dolphins not named Chad Henne?

• DOLPHINS QB - For now it's Matt Moore. Supposedly the Dolphins are going to sign Sage Rosenfels. Neither inspires much confidence. You're probably not picking up either in all but the deepest of leagues to cover you on a bye week.
• REGGIE BUSH - This is another experiment that doesn't look like it will end well. The Dolphins brought in Steve Slaton who can do pretty much what Bush does for 25 percent of the salary Bush makes. He still might be a decent flex in deep PPR leagues, but that's it. There will be no pressure for the Dolphins to feature Bush on a team that's going nowhere.
• DANIEL THOMAS - With Henne out, Thomas will get the chance to be the focal point of the offense. Thomas claims that he will be back to full-health after the Dolphins Week 5 bye. Look for the Dolphins to give Thomas as much work as he can handle. Twenty carries a game is entirely possible.
• BRANDON MARSHALL - You've seen what the absence of Peyton Manning has done to Reggie Wayne. But good news. Marshall is more talented than Wayne at this point in their careers, and Henne is no Peyton Manning. I wouldn't expect Marshall to suffer much from the loss of Henne. He might see a few less red-zone targets if the Dolphins offense struggles. But he should continue to be the focal point of the Dolphins passing game.
• BRIAN HARTLINE - Hartline probably takes the biggest hit in the Dolphins passing game. It seemed like Henne had settled on Hartline as his No. 2 target over Davone Bess. With Henne out of the picture, you can probably forget about Hartline in fantasy football this season.
• DAVONE BESS - The presence of Hartline still kills most of that fantasy value Bess had going into the season. But there is a chance that whoever ends up at QB for the Dolphins likes to focus on the slot receiver. And that's Bess. Not to mention he still returns punts for the Dolphins. If you own Bess, I would at least try to hang onto him through Week 6 to see what the Dolphins look like.
• ANTHONY FASANO - Fasano wasn't really relevant in fantasy to begin with, so it's doubtful that the Henne injury will change that. But, as always, there's a chance. Now, we're not talking about a fantasy starter here. But if the Dolphins starting QB likes to check down to his TE, Fasano could have some value as a bye week or injury fill-in.

If you're a Dolphins fan, it's going to be a pretty rough season. My condolences. But Andrew Luck might go a long way towards making y'all feel a lot better about your team. So I guess what's I'm saying is "good 'Luck.'"

If you have anything to add or any questions, please use the comments feature or reach out to me on Twitter.

And a "good Luck" to everybody this week.