Rookie Profile – Hunter Henry, TE Arkansas

Ryan Finley Posted On April 2, 2016

Today, I’m going to talk about arguably the top tight end prospect in the upcoming…whoa there, wait a minute. Why are you leaving? Yes yes, I know. Drafting tight ends in dynasty is a fool’s errand. People generally only do it when forced; like eating the veggie pizza only because all the meat versions are gone. That’s how it is with the tight end position, we only generally consider taking them once all the other good skill position players are off the board. But still, if you are forced to do it, you want to know who to take, right? Let’s talk about Hunter Henry, tight end from the Arkansas Razorbacks.

[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]

I didn’t know a whole heck of a lot about Henry when I started my research. I’m more of a Big Ten guy than an SEC guy, and he isn’t the kind of player that got the buzz of this year’s top prospects. It doesn’t help that one of Henry’s biggest claims to fame is a crazy lateral play that helped Arkansas upset Ole Miss. So I hadn’t seen him on tape or in a game, which in some ways helped me come at the player fresh. What I found was a player who doesn’t jump out at you in terms of metrics (and in fact can be disappointing in that respect,) but might be a far better football player than his metric profile might suggest.

Henry was a very highly regarded tight end prospect in 2012. In his senior year at Pulaski Academy, he caught 107 passes for 1,449 yards and 15 touchdowns. (ArkansasRazorbacks.com) He was regarded as a top 5 prospect at tight end, and he chose to attend Arkansas as his father was a four-year offensive lineman for the Razorbacks. He started seven games as a freshman, and spent the next 3 seasons putting up progressively better numbers. He capped off his three-year career as a Razorback with the John Mackey award for the top tight end in the nation.

Henry on Paper

As far as measurables, Henry ticks a lot of boxes as “good but not great.” Here’s a look at his numbers per MockDraftable.com:

Not exactly what I’d call spectacular. His height is ever so slightly above average. His weight, arm length and hand size are all below average. To top off this uninspiring package of measurements, he managed only 13 reps on the bench, which is about what a lot of defensive backs do at the same drill.

This brings us to the next issue with Henry, he just didn’t do many drills at the combine. No 40, no three cone, no shuttle, nothing. Just the bench, measurements and some of the short passing drills. He did show some soft hands in those drills, which is one of his key strengths.

Henry did recently have his Arkansas pro day, which helped him a bit in these areas. He did 21 reps on the bench, a vast improvement, and he also ran a 4.68 forty, which would have put him second at the position at the combine. He also put up typically decent numbers in the three cone (7.16), shuttle (4.41) and broad jump (113”.) He has good size at 6’5” and 250 pounds, but he’s no physical freak like Rob Gronkowski. (This was the legally mandated Gronk reference in an article on tight ends.)

To wrap up the metrics talk, here’s a look at his numbers from PlayerProfiler.com.

henry profiler

As in his combine numbers, this page is a little sparse on Henry. There just isn’t enough information to fill all of the useful metrics here. (Which is a shame, I’d love to see his catch radius number.) It does show that Henry broke out at 18.7 years of age, which is good for the 95^th percentile. This makes sense, since he started 7 games as a freshman at Arkansas. This also shows a number for the forty pulled earlier than his pro day.

So no, Hunter Henry is no athletic marvel. He’s not the prototypical freak athlete dynasty players get themselves in a tizzy about. He’s nothing like Ladarius Green and Rob Housler – both of whom, well, aren’t exactly tearing up the league as of yet. So forget everything metric-related, and let’s talk about film.

Henry on Film

Hunter Henry is a different player on tape than he is on paper. And this is a refrain we often hear in fantasy, but it’s often the other way around – good on paper but no football talent. Henry is the opposite of that. As soon as I started watching film, I thought I was looking at the makings of an NFL tight end. Here’s a cut of Henry and the Razorbacks versus Mississippi State last year, courtesy of DraftBreakdown.com.

[youtube id=”u1cO6UWl7Sc” align=”center” maxwidth=”1000″]

This clip shows a little bit of everything from Henry. The first thing to notice is that he never seems to come off the field. A good portion of the cuts here show Henry blocking, both for the run and passing game. The play that made me a Henry believer starts right here. Look at Henry come back to help get his teammate into the end zone. Not every player makes a block like that, folks. It was a minor brush off of the defender, sure, but it allowed the wide receiver to take it home. Next I’d like to highlight what we all like to see, a touchdown. This play is a good illustration of Henry’s soft hands and ability to catch the ball. Henry didn’t drop a pass in 2015. And going back further, he dropped only 2 of 90 catchable balls. There are some “athletic freak” types out there that only seem to catch 2 of 90. He also showed a great variety of routes, and pretty decent skill in that area as well. My only complaint of Henry as a receiver is I never really saw him go up and get the ball.

Henry showed good blocking technique on film as well. He blocked more than just corners or safeties, he also blocked linebackers and defensive ends with success. I also saw Henry on quite a few occasions perform combination blocks, seek out defenders on the second level, and help teammates finish plays. His main deficiency is his power, but that very well may be something that can be erased in an NFL weight room.

Summary

The rankers here at DLF currently have Henry as the 24^th player off the board, but there is a wide gulf in the individual rankers. His highest rank is 17 and his lowest 38. I expect he’s a player you might be able to get in the late second or early third of your rookie draft, but you likely have to scoop him up a little earlier if you really like him.

If I had to quantify Henry’s real strength, it’s this – he’s a complete tight end. He constantly stayed on the field with Arkansas due to his ability to block in both running and passing situations. Add his blocking ability with incredibly soft hands and solid routes, and you have a total tight end package. Hunter Henry looks capable of nearly everything asked of an NFL tight end. He’s also spent his whole career there. He isn’t one of those college quarterbacks or half-backs that tried to transition to raise their draft stock, nor is he a converted basketball player ala Antonio Gates. He played the position from high school on, and his experience at tight end shows. Perhaps the issue that we’ve had with tight ends of late in dynasty is that we’re drafting the wrong types. Too much focus on metrics and freakish athletes may have led us astray. Perhaps it’s better to focus on more well-rounded prospects like Hunter Henry.

[/am4show]