Tag: Chargers Hunter Henry

How ex-Chargers TE Hunter Henry is faring with Patriots

Checking in the former Chargers tight end.

Among the Chargers’ most notable departures this past offseason was tight end Hunter Henry, who signed a multi-year deal with the Patriots.

Injuries derailed Henry while wearing the blue and gold, but he was still one of the more productive players at his position, finishing with 196 receptions for 2,322 yards and 21 touchdowns over the course of five seasons.

Now, he has carried that type of talent over to New England while rocking No. 85 to pay homage to Antonio Gates.

Playing 72% of the offensive snaps, Henry has caught a touchdown pass in each of the past four games to go with 24 receptions for 264 yards.

Henry has steadily built a solid rapport with rookie quarterback Mac Jones, leaning on him in the red zone.

What does not show up on the stat sheet is Henry’s hard work as a blocker and on special teams, two other things that he brought value to when he was with Los Angeles.

“Hunter has been really good in a lot of ways. He’s a smart player,” head coach Bill Belichick said. “He’s helped us in a lot of ways: running game, passing game, kickoff returns. He’s a good, smart, tough, dependable player.”

Henry will meet his former team this Sunday at 1:05 pm PT.

Trading for TE Zach Ertz is an option for Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers could address the tight end position via trade.

Tight end Hunter Henry is on his way out after agreeing to terms with the Patriots on Tuesday.

With Henry gone, the Chargers will have a big void to fill at the tight end position. Before Henry found his new home, I listed out potential replacements via free agency and the draft.

However, another reasonable outlet that L.A. could resort to is trading for one, specifically Eagles TE Zach Ertz.

Philadelphia has been trying to trade Ertz for a while now and earlier this week it was reported that he was becoming impatient as he waited.

A second-round pick out of Stanford in 2013, Ertz earned three Pro Bowl appearances from 2017-19 and an All-Pro in 2018, while amassing an average of 93 receptions and almost 1,000 yards per season during that span.

In 2020, Ertz had the worst season of his career due to an offensive regression and a nagging ankle injury, logging just 36 catches for 335 yards and a touchdown.

But at only 30 years of age, Ertz still has some juice left in him to produce at a high level for a season or two.

What would Los Angeles have to give up in order to acquire him?

The Eagles have been unwilling to move off their asking price of a third- or fourth-round pick for Ertz, which has been the holdup. Going into 2021, he also has a base salary of $8.5 million, $4 million cheaper than what Henry earned.

Even though L.A. has two third-round picks in this year’s draft, a fourth-round selection is likely more reasonable. Philadelphia has two sixth-round picks and one of those could be included in the trade.

Overall, like Henry, Ertz is a well-rounded tight end, who would be a great influence for quarterback Justin Herbert, just like how he was for Carson Wentz during his early playing days.

Chargers TE Hunter Henry ‘fine’ with playing on franchise tag

Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry will be playing for a long-term deal if no agreement is made.

It appears mutual that both the Chargers and tight end Hunter Henry are hopeful to strike a long-term deal before the start of the 2020 regular season after getting the franchise tag placed on him earlier this offseason.

However, if the two parties are unable to come to an agreement, then Henry is fine playing out the season on the fully-guaranteed $10.6 million deal if it came down to it.

“I think it’s fine,” Henry told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “Obviously, I think I would like to get something done; just security, and long term and just with the team and the franchise. It’s another year of playing football, man, that’s how I look at it.”

The deadline for the two sides to work out a long-term extension is July 15. If no deal is reached, it sounds like Henry has no desire to holdout this summer.

The 25-year old Henry has been productive since entering the league in 2016, but he has dealt with an injury in each one of the seasons.

Henry played in only 12 games in 2019, but he had a career-high 55 catches for 652 yards and five touchdowns. He landed among the elite pass catchers last season.

The former Arkansas product is optimistic that he will be in the blue and gold for years to come.

“There were [talks] a while back, but we haven’t really done much since,” Henry said. “Hopefully we can get something going this summer and get it going that way,” Henry said.

Chargers TE Hunter Henry among elite pass catchers in 2019

Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry flourished in 2019.

Chargers tight end Hunter Henry was hampered by a knee injury in Week 1 of the 2019 season, which kept him out for four weeks of action. Upon returning, Henry was a force to be reckoned with, especially in the passing game.

Henry was a matchup nightmare, showing the ability to win in a variety of ways, whether that be shorter routes or in the middle of the field. As a result, the former Arkansas product posted 55 catches for 652 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 12 contests.

Henry’s dominance as a receiver was recognized by NFL Media’s Nick Shook, as he was listed as the seventh-best pass-catcher in the NFL in 2019.

Shook’s used “catch rate above expectation,” which is simply the difference between a player’s catch rate last season compared to his expected catch rate, which is calculated by Next Gen Stats.

Henry had a plus-8.4-percent difference between his actual catch rate and his expected catch rate, finishing a spot above 49ers’ George Kittle, who is touted as one of the best at the position.

Henry battled through the adversity of suffering a torn ACL in 2018 to return, appear in 12 games and catch over 70 percent of the passes intended for him in 2019. While the Chargers struggled in the final year of the Philip Rivers era, Henry did not, posting a positive catch-rate difference of over 8 percent. He flourished in the end zone, catching 60 percent of his targets in the money-making stretch of 10 yards for three of his five total touchdowns.

Most importantly, Henry succeeded by finding the soft spots in the defense. His air yards per target (10.2) landed near what the wideouts in this group managed, and he did so by creating space for himself in those soft spots, as evidenced by his tight-window percentage of just 13.2. Talk about increasing your chances.

Henry, 25, had the franchise tag placed on him earlier this offseason. He said that him and the Chargers were in talks of a long-term extension, but the coronavirus pandemic put negotiations to a halt.

It remains to be seen if the two parties will agree to an extension before the season, but it’s evident that Los Angeles wants to keep him around for awhile.

Henry is dealt with issues since 2016, but when he is on the field he is a key piece of the offense. He will look to not only continue to flourish as a pass-catcher and run-blocker, but stay healthy for a full 16-game slate, which would mark the first time in his professional career.

To see the rest of Shook’s list of top pass-catchers from last season, you can check it out here.

Chargers, TE Hunter Henry were ‘getting close’ to contract extension

Tight end Hunter Henry is expected to be a part of the Los Angeles Chargers’ plans beyond the 2020 season.

The Chargers placed the franchise tag on tight end Hunter Henry earlier this month, and will now have until July 15 to reach a long-term deal.

However, that contract extension would have already been in ink. That’s until the coronavirus pandemic took the world by storm.

According to The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, Henry said that he was “getting close” to a multi-year deal with Los Angeles earlier this offseason but that the pandemic “put a delay on everything.”

Henry does not know how close both sides are at the moment, but he remains optimistic that a long-term extension can be reached sooner than later.

From Henry’s comments, we can now justify that he will be in the team’s plans beyond the 2020 season, which should come by no surprise.

Despite being hindered by injuries the past couple of seasons, Henry has been a vital part of the offense.

When he is on the field, he is easily one of the league’s top tight ends. He’s averaging 8.9 yards per target and has 17 touchdowns in 41 games. Along with his impressive skillset as a pass-catcher, Henry has been a proven run-blocker.

After catching passes from Philip Rivers for the past four seasons, Henry will do the same thing, but it will be from Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert moving forward.

Henry expects more play action and more mobility from the quarterback position. The former Arkansas product said he texted Herbert shortly after he was taken as the No. 6 overall selection in last week’s NFL draft.