Hunter Henry tore his ACL yesterday. The next time you think ill of a veteran who skips OTAs, consider the consequences for players every time they step on the field. Obviously it's terrible for Henry, and kind of a drag for those in best-ball leagues (or our experts leagues, where draft/auction already occurred). It's a major blow to the Chargers, too.
Henry's individual stats haven't been eye-popping his first two seasons, with 36-45 catches for 478-579 yards and a total of 12 TDs. But that's because his chances were limited by future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates. The easy reaction last night was that the Chargers could soften the blow by re-signing Gates, but he turns 38 years old next month, no longer the difference-making athlete he once was (or that Henry is). He's an old, slow tight end who knows the system, but he's not Antonio Gates anymore; not really.
So the Chargers won't have Henry, and they won't have the Gates they had in the past, even if they sign him. They're left scrambling to fill a void on what was one of the league's more tight-end heavy offenses.
Over the last two seasons, Chargers tight ends (and it's virtually all Henry and Gates) combined to catch 192 passes for 1,994 yards and 22 TDs. Those totals rank 9th, 7th and 3rd in the NFL among the league's 32 teams over those two seasons.
| TE TEAM TOTALS, 2016-2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Tampa Bay | 160 | 1923 | 12.0 | 24 |
| Seattle | 169 | 1917 | 11.3 | 23 |
| LA Chargers | 172 | 1994 | 11.6 | 22 |
| New England | 177 | 2566 | 14.5 | 20 |
| Philadelphia | 239 | 2500 | 10.5 | 19 |
| Indianapolis | 207 | 2157 | 10.4 | 16 |
| Minnesota | 164 | 1554 | 9.5 | 16 |
| Tennessee | 177 | 2019 | 11.4 | 15 |
| Kansas City | 215 | 2620 | 12.2 | 14 |
| Washington | 199 | 2272 | 11.4 | 14 |
| Cincinnati | 122 | 1275 | 10.5 | 14 |
| Atlanta | 119 | 1436 | 12.1 | 14 |
| San Francisco | 125 | 1705 | 13.6 | 13 |
| Jacksonville | 127 | 1237 | 9.7 | 12 |
| NY Giants | 175 | 1658 | 9.5 | 11 |
| Chicago | 118 | 1215 | 10.3 | 11 |
| Baltimore | 214 | 1740 | 8.1 | 10 |
| Dallas | 148 | 1445 | 9.8 | 10 |
| Cleveland | 136 | 1577 | 11.6 | 10 |
| Pittsburgh | 132 | 1400 | 10.6 | 10 |
| Miami | 111 | 1076 | 9.7 | 10 |
| Houston | 168 | 1724 | 10.3 | 9 |
| Buffalo | 145 | 1627 | 11.2 | 9 |
| Arizona | 110 | 1296 | 11.8 | 9 |
| Detroit | 141 | 1553 | 11.0 | 8 |
| New Orleans | 115 | 1288 | 11.2 | 8 |
| Oakland | 129 | 1425 | 11.0 | 7 |
| Denver | 103 | 1248 | 12.1 | 7 |
| Carolina | 140 | 1862 | 13.3 | 6 |
| LA Rams | 102 | 1123 | 11.0 | 6 |
| Green Bay | 120 | 1310 | 10.9 | 5 |
| NY Jets | 80 | 689 | 8.6 | 4 |
The Chargers' current in-house options aren't good: Virgil Green and Sean McGrath. Green went for 515 yards and 5 TDs in his final season at Nevada, but that was way back in 2010. He hasn't shown any receiving acumen in the pros, instead serving as a blocker with Denver the last seven seasons. He has 71 career receptions in 100 games and turns 30 next month. Green looks like Henry compared to McGrath, who has 6 receptions since 2013.
The two guys who the Chargers should be considering, in addition to Gates I suppose, are Julius Thomas and Coby Fleener. Thomas has busted with two teams since his Peyton Manning-fueled peak, while Fleener was terrible in New Orleans the last few years. But they probably bring more to the table than Gates at this point. Fleener in particular becomes interesting, I think, if the Chargers bring him in.
--Andy Richardson