Broncos Awarded Waiver Claim on Tight End Mitchell Henry

[JJBroncoFan]

The requisite skill of a Tight End is blocking. Why line a guy up tight if he can't block effectively and consistently? Since they are eligible, they should be reliable receivers as well. "Receiving" TE and "blocking" TE are kind of misleading.

How often is Jimmy Graham lined up tight? He wanted to be classified as a WR for salary negotiation purposes, so he must have been split/wide a good deal of the time.

When Tony Scheffler was a Bronco he didn't line up tight half the time and Brandon Marshall was a better blocker.

If a football team is serious about being balanced on offense and having a viable rushing attack, the guys they line up tight on the end of the LOS must be good blockers.

Julius Thomas caught a lot of passes, but Virgil Green caught a higher percentage of the passes thrown at him. Virgil is capable of blocking anyone who lines up in a defensive front. I don't care how much JT got paid, Virgil is a better TE.

This is a great post Sam, agree 100%. Balance is still a must in this league and TEs need to be effective blockers to maintain balance. I agree Virgil is the better tight end.

Edit: gotta spread it around

[Papa-pwn]

And Darius Kilgo, who's been a pleasant surprise.

Agreed, they have both been much better than anticipated

[-Rod-]

Williams will handle that fine.

And Darius Kilgo, who's been a pleasant surprise.

[crash123go]

Weeee a TIGHT END!!!! Whoo hoooo...

Can he plug up the middle of the D line and dominate the LOS though.. You know a area of real concern on this Defense...

Williams will handle that fine.

[SammyWinder]

With the addition of mathis i think our line will be better than people think as long as we are healthy

Weeee a TIGHT END!!!! Whoo hoooo...

Can he plug up the middle of the D line and dominate the LOS though.. You know a area of real concern on this Defense...

[armedequation]

With the addition of mathis i think our line will be better than people think as long as we are healthy

[Freyaka]

Seriously, there seems to be some weird obsession with blocking TE's around here recently. I remember a few years ago we used a 2nd round pick on a blocking TE and everybody freaked out, I guess times have changed lol.

That's because we had an o-line back then...we don't now and we need all the blocking help we can get.

[-Rod-]

From what i read, supposedly his old teams coach was upset that henry was let go....ill have to look that back up...

Green Bay Packers rumors: Thompson Upset Over Losing Mitchell Henry To Denver Broncos

http://www.hngn.com/articles/126983/20150907/green-bay-packers-rumors-thompson-upset-over-losing-mitchell-henry-to-denver-broncos.htm

The Green Bay Packers and GM Ted Thompson are reportedly very disappointed that they weren't able to hold onto tight end Mitchell Henry after cutting him this weekend.

It's not often that you hear about an NFL franchise being "keenly disappointed" that they lost a practice squad candidate to another team, but in this day and age of high-flying offenses and continual acts of unintentional injury attrition - Jordy Nelson - the importance of organizational depth, especially among the offensive skill positions, cannot possibly be overstated. It's not really all that surprising then to hear from Bob McGinn and Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that sources within the Green Bay Packers organization indicate the team is "keenly disappointed" to have lost undrafted free agent tight end Mitchell Henry to the Denver Broncos this weekend.

Henry, a Western Kentucky product signed by Thompson immediately after the 2015 NFL Draft, as awarded to the Broncos and GM John Elway via waivers on Saturday.

While Henry had little-to-no chance of impacting the Packers roster this season, it's likely that Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy believed that with some seasoning and time to develop, Henry could potentially turn into a serious contributor for a Packers offense that is fairly unsettled at the tight end position.

Andrew Quarless, set to enter his sixth NFL season, and Richard Rodgers, on the verge of NFL Year Two, currently sit atop the depth chart for the Packers. Neither player is well-established as an offensive threat at this point, though Rodgers did 20 receptions, 225 yards and two touchdowns during a promising rookie season. With Nelson done for the year, Quarless and Rodgers will see ample targets, but it's uncertain what they'll be able to do with the increased looks.

And considering the Packers haven't had a serious receiving threat at the tight end position since Jermichael Finley, it makes sense that Thompson would be upset over losing a developmental prospect he liked at the position.

While Henry played in Conference USA during college and faced questions of his functional strength and blocking ability entering the pre-draft process, he's considered a natural hands catcher who could have a future in the NFL as a move tight end or H-back - qualities that would have potentially fit well in Green Bay.

Interesting. Maybe we have something good here. We'll see how long it will take for him to be able to contribute. The final part of the article suggests he's a move TE so he may have a different role compared to the other guys.

[armedequation]

From what i read, supposedly his old teams coach was upset that henry was let go....ill have to look that back up...

[FR Tim]

Perhaps he was acquired due to scout to scout or coach to coach references.

Obviously someone thought he was a good fit for the Broncos.

[-Rod-]

I did not understand this move because, for an offense that demands a lot from the TEs, we could have kept Marcel Jensen who already knows the system to play if needed. Jensen is 6'6", 260-270 with 34 7/8" arms, so his upside for our system is obvious. With more coaching he might become a good in-line TE. Mitchell Henry is another UDFA project and he's on the 53-man roster without knowing the system. If we need him to play during an emergency, he probably won't know what to do for a while. He is a smaller, receiving TE that barely played during preseason because of an injury, so Elway and Kubiak had to make a decision based on college tape. I'm okay with this kind of player on the practice squad, but I really don't see how he is an upgrade over Jensen or Dominique Jones on the 53-man roster. I'm curious to see what happens and how fast he can adapt to our playbook, especially with Manning demanding a lot of football IQ from young players.

[Hadez]

Is anyone besides me just excited to have a new guy maybe we can coach up?

Lets see the guy put some time in before we put the hammer down

[samparnell]

Not predicting anything. Just pointing out that if he can become even close the player JT became after he got healthy I would be thrilled.

I prefer a TE that also can block effectively (as Samparnell mentioned Green). But every team has the receiving or slot type TE in the mix. Have no clue if this kid can fill that role. If he can I would not be disappointed if he does develop that way.

Also think Heuerman can be a very good TE next year. I was disappointed he was injured so early.

Just for clarification, a TE who lines up Slot, Wing or H-Back is off the LOS and may motion. He could end up blocking a lot of different defenders from that spot.

The term Tight End comes from the fact that, for over a hundred years, there must be seven on the LOS with the Ends eligible. For a long time, all Ends were Tight. Then, with the advent of the T Formation, and Split T, one End was Split (X) and the other was Tight (Y).

Nowadays, the terminology is in-line TE meaning a guy who lines up right next to an Offensive Tackle and could be asked to block an odd-front 5 tech or a split-front 9 tech.

Virgil Green has lined up at all those spots plus as a FB/20. Montee Ball had the longest run in 2013. On that play, Virgil Green made the key block on Dontari Poe/0 tech. I think he was off maybe as Slot or H-Back.

It was crummy that Heuerman got hurt, but that's football. I hope he recovers and is back next year.

[Remedy]

The requisite skill of a Tight End is blocking. Why line a guy up tight if he can't block effectively and consistently? Since they are eligible, they should be reliable receivers as well. "Receiving" TE and "blocking" TE are kind of misleading.

How often is Jimmy Graham lined up tight? He wanted to be classified as a WR for salary negotiation purposes, so he must have been split/wide a good deal of the time.

When Tony Scheffler was a Bronco he didn't line up tight half the time and Brandon Marshall was a better blocker.

If a football team is serious about being balanced on offense and having a viable rushing attack, the guys they line up tight on the end of the LOS must be good blockers.

Julius Thomas caught a lot of passes, but Virgil Green caught a higher percentage of the passes thrown at him. Virgil is capable of blocking anyone who lines up in a defensive front. I don't care how much JT got paid, Virgil is a better TE.

that was a pretty good summation of things.

[FR Tim]

A little premature to start saying this nobody could be the future, isn't it?

Not predicting anything. Just pointing out that if he can become even close the player JT became after he got healthy I would be thrilled.

I prefer a TE that also can block effectively (as Samparnell mentioned Green). But every team has the receiving or slot type TE in the mix. Have no clue if this kid can fill that role. If he can I would not be disappointed if he does develop that way.

Also think Heuerman can be a very good TE next year. I was disappointed he was injured so early.