Captain’s Challenge: Patriots, Henry Improving Offense?

By re-signing tight end Hunter Henry, the New England Patriots are counting on his prowess on an off the field to help rebuild their offense this season, and beyond.

FOXBORO — New England Patriots tight end and team captain Hunter Henry is no stranger to taking on new challenges.

At every level of his career on the gridiron, the 29-year old has found success while exceeding his expectations. Accordingly, the Pats took no chances in losing Henry to impending free agency by agreeing to a deal Friday morning to keep him in New England. 

The deal has since been reported by NFL Network as a three-year pact worth $27 million (base) with a max value of $30 million.

The nature of Henry’s reported return appears to indicate that New England is once again counting on him surpassing his projections by mentoring what is likely to be a young and developmental offense in 2024 and beyond. 

Cred: USA Today Sports Images

In short, they will need Henry to rise to the challenge of being a great team captain, as well as their top tight end. Fortunately for the Patriots, Henry’s resolve to succeed has already driven him to great heights.

As a high schooler, Henry attended Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas. Under legendary coach Kevin Kelly, Henry spent the entirety of his four-year tenure playing offensive tackle, wide receiver, and defensive end for the football team. However, one position not credited to his resume — and conspicuous by its absence — was tight end.

In fact, Henry did not officially play tight end until his arrival at the University of Arkansas. However, his experience as both a receiver and two-way lineman allowed him to cultivate the pass-catching, route-running and blocking skills required to become a stalwart at the position.

Unsurprisingly, Henry accepted his new challenge.

At Arkansas, Henry flourished as the Razorbacks’ top tight end. In 2015, he won the John Mackey Award as the best tight end in the nation. He was also a Consensus All-American in the 2015–2016 season. Henry helped Arkansas win back-to-back bowl games in consecutive years for the first time in program history, beating their former Southwest Conference rival Texas Longhorns in the 2014 Texas Bowl, and winning the 2016 Liberty Bowl over the Kansas State Wildcats.

Henry was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round (35th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft. As the first tight end chosen that year, he faced the daunting task of joining a positional depth chart which included Bolts’ legend Antonio Gates. Yet, the Arkansas native was determined to make his mark on the team, as well as the franchise. During his time with the Chargers [both in San Diego, and Los Angeles], Henry compiled 196 career receptions, for 2322 yards and 21 touchdowns — once again, rising to the challenge of surpassing the future Hall-of-Famer on the positional depth chart. 

Since signing with the Patriots as a free agent in 2021, Henry has quickly become a fan-favorite in New England. Although the Patriots offense has seen far more struggle than success during Henry’s three seasons in Foxboro, he has emerged as one of the their primary scoring targets — compiling 133 catches for 1,531 yards and 17 touchdowns. As such he quickly became a favorite target of Patriots quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.

Despite missing the final three games of last season due to a knee injury, Henry made the most of his first turn as a team captain. He led the positional group with 42 catches for 419 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. While widely praised for his versatility, he is most productive when playing the traditional “Y” role, accentuating his route-running skills, as well as his ability to box out. He has also proven himself a strong blocker and reliable pass catcher.

Though questions surrounding his health and durability plagued him during his time with the Chargers, Henry proved to be one of the Patriots most-reliable players, suiting up for 48 of 51 games in three seasons. As previously mentioned, Henry suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in Week 15 against the Kansas City Chiefs, which forced him to miss the only three games of his Patriots tenure. He is expected to be fully recovered for the start of Patriots training camp. 

Pending the deal’s official conformation by the NFL, Henry is joined on the Patriots depth chart by LaMichael Pettway. Though the team has not expressed outward interest in re-signing fellow free-agent Mike Gesicki, they are reportedly considering retaining veteran Pharaoh Brown — who served as strong blocker and situational big-play receiver in 2023. 

Patriots Mayo Clarifies Wolf Call to ‘Weaponize’ Offense

With the Patriots widely expected to select a quarterback at No. 3 in next month’s NFL Draft, they will require a veteran presence on offense — not only capable of being a top-level performer on the field, but also one conditioned to lead through words and actions under first-year head coach Jerod Mayo. 

Thanks to acting quickly on Henry, the Patriots will continue to have a “captain” at the helm who knows those waters quite well .

---