Derrick Henry Thread - Is he still King Henry post injury?

[Yomgui]

This video has been largely commented and most of the analysts consider it utterly pointless.

Another similar video surfaced a couple of hours ago and Henry all of a sudden appeared to have a much better/improved footwork.

Nobody knows how good/bad Henry will be in the NFL but one thing we know, a lot of BS will be spread on the Internet before the season starts (about Henry and manyyy other rookies of course).

[Never Veto1]

Lot's of good info here. I have the 4/5/7 so I've been debating Henry at the 5, then taking whichever WR is left at 7, however many are making a strong case to pass on Henry and if he's there in the late 1st (I have 1.11 as well), then take him.

[balaberda]

Lot's of good info here. I have the 4/5/7 so I've been debating Henry at the 5, then taking whichever WR is left at 7, however many are making a strong case to pass on Henry and if he's there in the late 1st (I have 1.11 as well), then take him.

I look forward to doing the tier lists but it seems like 1.05 will be the bottom of the second tier. Taking one of the WR is probably a smarter pick (even if you need RB help)

[_yeti]

This video has been largely commented and most of the analysts consider it utterly pointless.

Another similar video surfaced a couple of hours ago and Henry all of a sudden appeared to have a much better/improved footwork.

Nobody knows how good/bad Henry will be in the NFL but one thing we know, a lot of BS will be spread on the Internet before the season starts (about Henry and manyyy other rookies of course).

Will admit it's a small glimpse and him definitely taking it slow and wading into a drill but you have to admit he looks bad. He's top heavy and not fluid in his lower body... stiff. It spells trouble for me, but obviously the guy does what he does well and is crazy fast for his size. Not saying he can't be successful, just responding with my interpretation of 'why the hate.'

For what it's worth I still gave him a hard look with the 1.4 (had 1.1 and 1.2 and not super high on the WR class). Kind of guy who it may sting to be wrong about, so I could see taking him with the 5th or 7th pick. Just be prepared for a bust risk. To be fair to both sides, the other players available at 5 and 7 don't present the same potential ceiling of what Henry could have if he does catch on in the NFL, so if you want to gamble you could do worse.

[Yomgui]

Will admit it's a small glimpse and him definitely taking it slow and wading into a drill but you have to admit he looks bad. He's top heavy and not fluid in his lower body... stiff. It spells trouble for me, but obviously the guy does what he does well and is crazy fast for his size. Not saying he can't be successful, just responding with my interpretation of 'why the hate.'

For what it's worth I still gave him a hard look with the 1.4 (had 1.1 and 1.2 and not super high on the WR class). Kind of guy who it may sting to be wrong about, so I could see taking him with the 5th or 7th pick. Just be prepared for a bust risk. To be fair to both sides, the other players available at 5 and 7 don't present the same potential ceiling of what Henry could have if he does catch on in the NFL, so if you want to gamble you could do worse.

Matt Waldman, a scout/analyst I value and an ex NFL player were both adamant that this video showed nothing... now, if 1 week prior to the start of the regular season we have another video of Henry still struggling in this kind of drills and being sluggish, I might be a bit more worried.

Who knows, maybe he had eaten 15 hot-dogs before doing this exercise haha

I agree, he is a polarizing prospect but like I said in a previous post, I drafted him at 1.11 in my league so the upside was well worth the risk at this point of the draft.

[Cameron Giles]

Lot's of good info here. I have the 4/5/7 so I've been debating Henry at the 5, then taking whichever WR is left at 7, however many are making a strong case to pass on Henry and if he's there in the late 1st (I have 1.11 as well), then take him.

Honestly, it depends on who's available. If you can get Henry for a mid-first or so, I think it's worth the risk. He started one year at Alabama and won the Heisman. Any RB that flashes is going to see a big increase in value because of position scarcity. If you're drafting WR's these days, they almost have to be special to break the depth at that position.

The biggest thing with Henry to me is that he doesn't have the stop/start quicks to avoid traffic before he builds up his speed. But if he gets a crease of daylight from the line, then he's going to do damage.

[ninotoreS]

This video has been largely commented and most of the analysts consider it utterly pointless.

Vague assertion there. And dubious. Even cherry-picked film isn't 'utterly pointless'.

Henry's poor agility on tape is objectively supported by his combine performance, you know.


With Henry, he'll need a good line that consistently wins him free access to the second-level, and a team willing to commit their entire offense to volume rushing, since he won't be a factor in the pass-game.

I'd love Henry if the year were 1970, but it's not. As things are, I see Henry as a richer version of Andre Williams. Beware taking him with your first round pick, folks. Playing at Bama and thus enabling a Heisman campaign greatly inflated his real-life draft stock.

[Yomgui]

Vague assertion there. And dubious. Even cherry-picked film isn't 'utterly pointless'.

Henry's poor agility on tape is objectively supported by his combine performance, you know.


With Henry, he'll need a good line that consistently wins him free access to the second-level, and a team willing to commit their entire offense to volume rushing, since he won't be a factor in the pass-game.

I'd love Henry if the year were 1970, but it's not. As things are, I see Henry as a richer version of Andre Williams. Beware taking him with your first round pick, folks. Playing at Bama and thus enabling a Heisman campaign greatly inflated his real-life draft stock.

Worth the read

https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2016/05/17/l ... work-clip/

[Yomgui]

since he won't be a factor in the pass-game.

We said the same thing about M.Gordon and yet he caught 33 balls last year despite Woodhead being in the mix.

It is not because he was not involved in the passing game as a college back that he is not good at it or won't used in this role in the NFL either.
It appears like he caught the ball well during the combine.

[balaberda]

This pick by the Titans still blows my mind.

[skip]

This pick by the Titans still blows my mind.

Why is that? They had a pile of underwhelming backs the last couple of years and added Murray who was FAR from impressive last year. Not only did he struggle but there came a point where he just gave up on the coaching staff and his teammates. If anything, the Murray signing was the surprise. They probably weren't sure if they would be able to land a back in the draft.

[myth010]

I took him at 1.9 in our rookie draft, I was surprised he fell to me. All the Top WRs are taken except for Carroo. He is athletic for his size, even though he played with a good OL he also had to face some of the good defenses and ran his way to Heisman. I think it's worth the risk even if you don't like him if he fell to 1.7 or later. The hate has gone too far.

[_yeti]

Will admit it's a small glimpse and him definitely taking it slow and wading into a drill but you have to admit he looks bad. He's top heavy and not fluid in his lower body... stiff. It spells trouble for me, but obviously the guy does what he does well and is crazy fast for his size. Not saying he can't be successful, just responding with my interpretation of 'why the hate.'

For what it's worth I still gave him a hard look with the 1.4 (had 1.1 and 1.2 and not super high on the WR class). Kind of guy who it may sting to be wrong about, so I could see taking him with the 5th or 7th pick. Just be prepared for a bust risk. To be fair to both sides, the other players available at 5 and 7 don't present the same potential ceiling of what Henry could have if he does catch on in the NFL, so if you want to gamble you could do worse.

Matt Waldman, a scout/analyst I value and an ex NFL player were both adamant that this video showed nothing... now, if 1 week prior to the start of the regular season we have another video of Henry still struggling in this kind of drills and being sluggish, I might be a bit more worried.

Who knows, maybe he had eaten 15 hot-dogs before doing this exercise haha

I agree, he is a polarizing prospect but like I said in a previous post, I drafted him at 1.11 in my league so the upside was well worth the risk at this point of the draft.

It isn't about him being sluggish. I think you are entirely missing the point. He is obviously going through the drill half speed or less. It's him tripping over his own feet and looking extremely stiff and top-heavy. Even the joke about the hot dogs, come on now, it's the NFL. This isn't pop warner. While a joke, it cheapens the whole discussion. If we're on that level we might as well just go play NFL Blitz and analyze that and call it a day with any analysis of the real NFL.

[Bigfun71]

I read somewhere that Henry is a very good pass catcher, that he worked on it as part of his routine (including deep routes with over the shoulder catches). He lined up at wr and ran routes and caught everything. He takes pride in his receiving skills and caught every ball at his Pro day. that was enough for me to take him at 1.07. I will have to search for the tape (I believe it was Charles Davis from NFL network that was dropping tidbits on things that people knew very little about with Henry. Mostly bc they just didn't give him the opportunity in college to do it.)
I cant wait to see him against the 4th quarter of tired defense trying to tackle (exotic smashmouth)this behemoth. He may put 60-80 on the final drive and score the goal line td quite often to seal a victory. Makes it fun to watch defenders make "business decsions" and try and think of creative ways to tackle him......please let me see a db try to shoulder him down LOL

Heres a NFL network article:
ALA PRO-DAY
Running back Derrick Henry -- 6-foot-2 1/2, 244 pounds -- got some extra credit for stepping in as a receiver because the event didn't have enough wide receivers. The scouts on hand were ecstatic over how well the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner caught the ball. Henry stepped in and showed that he has real good route-running ability, and that is just another skill that he possesses that people didn't realize that he was so good at. Henry really helped himself out at the pro day.
http://alabama.247sports.com/Bolt/Derri ... y-44172654

[Cameron Giles]

It isn't about him being sluggish. I think you are entirely missing the point. He is obviously going through the drill half speed or less. It's him tripping over his own feet and looking extremely stiff and top-heavy. Even the joke about the hot dogs, come on now, it's the NFL. This isn't pop warner. While a joke, it cheapens the whole discussion. If we're on that level we might as well just go play NFL Blitz and analyze that and call it a day with any analysis of the real NFL.

You should read the Waldman article or re-watch some of Henry's games. I'm a big critic of him as well, but that drill really says nothing.