Prospects for Jags fans to watch: Florida CB CJ Henderson

One player I have seen mocked to Jacksonville, time and time again, is Florida’s CJ Henderson. Could the Jaguars add a talented corner?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in desperate need for help on both sides of the ball. With free agency looming, much of the roster will be up in the air, including veterans Marcell Dareus, A.J. Bouye, Andrew Norwell, and Calais Campbell.  While I don’t expect the team to release all of those players, there will be some cap casualties and we likely won’t know what the team will really look like until March.

One of the positions that has been mocked to Jacksonville frequently in mock drafts all over the internet is the cornerback position. While I do not think the need at corner is as great as the national media seems to think, the corner class is very strong and I do feel like there is a real chance the Jags could snag a talented corner in the draft at some point.

With the uncertainty of Tre Herndon’s talent level and Bouye aging with a high cap number, Jacksonville would be smart to at least take a peek at one of the strongest and deepest positions in the class. For this reason, many draft pundits have mocked Florida corner CJ Henderson to the Jags.

Henderson has been one of the draft’s biggest names for quite some time now. His natural coverage ability, fluid hips, and ball skills have vaulted him into the first round in many mock drafts circling the internet. In terms of pure coverage ability, Henderson is among the draft’s best.

In just nine games in 2019, Henderson was able to deflect 11 balls, a career high for him. While he lacked production in 2019 when it came to interceptions, the gator corner was able to make plays on the ball whenever given the chance.

Here is just another example of Henderson breaking up a pass as he beautifully covers a vertical route against Louisiana State’s star receiver Justin Jefferson.

While quarterback Joe Burrow wasn’t the same Heisman winner we’ve come to know presently at the time of this video, this is still a tremendous job by Henderson to run stride-for-stride with Jefferson, who has hurt many team’s vertically up the sideline.

Henderson uses his size (6-foot-1, 202 pounds) and length to extend his reach and has incredible speed and quickness to go along with that length. The problems with Henderson arise when it comes to his willingness to tackle and proficiency at it.

Many scouts have been critical of Henderson’s effort when it comes to tackling. When it comes to Jacksonville this could be a deal breaker. Jacksonville has had issues of their own tackling, and I’m not sure Henderson would be the one to help that problem. However, Henderson remains a very good player, a team just will have to acknowledge his tackling faults.

For all we know, Henderson could still improve. While he is not getting ready to lay big hit on a receiver, I did find a clip of Henderson running down Deebo Samuel the entire length of the field, marking a true effort play by the gator corner.

For any team, Jacksonville especially, it is important to understand a player’s strengths and weaknesses in order to decide if that player is both right for their organization, and if they do select him, it’s key to keep that player away from situations that hurt the team. I. think Henderson is a top shelf cover corner in the draft and likely goes in the Top-50 picks. For Jacksonville, or any team, Henderson will immediately help sure of the back end of your defense with sticky coverage and game-changing ball skills.