Broncos Awarded Waiver Claim on Tight End Mitchell Henry

[FL BRONCO]

#Broncos awarded waiver claim on tight end Mitchell Henry from #Packers

[FL BRONCO]

oops mods just realized I wrote Mike instead of Mitch, Please fix

[Rastic]

Interesting pick. Sounds like a promising receiver but poor blocker. Hope he's not JT 2.0.

[FR Tim]

Interesting pick. Sounds like a promising receiver but poor blocker. Hope he's not JT 2.0.

Personally I would be thrilled if he developed into another JT.

A receiving TE that can catch 40 passes a year and 10 TDs for under million instead of the $9M a year that the Jags are paying JT. He and/or Heuerman could be the future with Green. After this season they can potentially replace Daniels and Casey for a fraction of the cost.

[Broncos-R-Great]

Personally I would be thrilled if he developed into another JT.

A receiving TE that can catch 40 passes a year and 10 TDs for under million instead of the $9M a year that the Jags are paying JT. He and/or Heuerman could be the future with Green. After this season they can potentially replace Daniels and Casey for a fraction of the cost.

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.

[Broncos-R-Great]

Here's his draft profile:

Strengths Tough pass-catcher in space. Doesn't search out safeties or linebackers when working the middle of the field and is willing to take the big hit and finish the catch. Natural hands. Adjusts routes when working seam to open up larger throwing windows for quarterback. Keeps working to open up when plays stall. Good foot quickness out of breaks. Will make the contested catch. Adequate play speed.
Weaknesses Lacks play *strength of an in*line, NFL tight end. Struggles to sustain his blocks and will get outworked for the edge by stronger opponents. At times, will wait for throws to make it to his body rather than extending and snatching. Routes are raw and need to be sharpened.
Draft Projection Priority free agent
Bottom Line Not enough sand in his pants to be a reliable blocker at the point of attack, so he might have to transition into more of an H-back role or move tight end. Has the hands and toughness to make contested catches as well as the foot quickness to get open. Worthy priority free agent target.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/mitchell-henry?id=2553293

He has similar size and speed to JT, probably why they're taking a shot on him.

[Papa-pwn]

Personally I would be thrilled if he developed into another JT.

A receiving TE that can catch 40 passes a year and 10 TDs for under million instead of the $9M a year that the Jags are paying JT. He and/or Heuerman could be the future with Green. After this season they can potentially replace Daniels and Casey for a fraction of the cost.

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

[trc1962]

Maybe premature, but in the preseason JT's loss was felt I thought, especially in the red zone. If this guy can be a big target in the offense, then great! We will see, but it is good to have another body that has size.

[samparnell]

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.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[-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.

[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.