Malcolm Brown: Darrell Henderson is ‘way more comfortable’ this year

Henderson is sidelined right now, but Brown can see the progress he’s made from Year 1 to Year 2.

Darrell Henderson entered the 2019 season with a lot of hype. He was a popular sleeper pick in fantasy football, with many assuming he would get meaningful snaps behind Todd Gurley, whose knee was a question mark all offseason.

His role was much smaller than anticipated, partly because of minor injuries and also because of rookie growing pains. He’ll try to bounce back and have a bigger impact this season after gaining a year of NFL experience in 2019.

Malcolm Brown has a firsthand view of Henderson every day in training camp and he can see a new level of comfort for the second-year back.

“Darrell’s way more comfortable,” he said Wednesday. “Going into to your second year, I feel like that first to second year is very important. You’re so much more comfy around everybody around the team. You’re so much more comfortable with the playbook, everything. Darrell, he’s more comfy, he’s talking more, he likes to joke and stuff all the time.”

Henderson is currently out with a hamstring injury, which the Rams hope won’t prevent him from playing in Week 1 against the Cowboys. He’s presumably behind Cam Akers and Brown on the depth chart, too, playing more of a change-of-pace role than a featured one.

Henderson should still have an impact, though, even if it’s only in limited situations. He’s a big-play threat every time he touches the ball, he just needs to gain more experience and comfort in the offense – which Brown says he has.

[vertical-gallery id=637091]