Jaguars Re-sign Chad Henne
In a move that makes complete sense, which doesn’t happen often in the NFL, the Jaguars re-signed Chad Henne to a contract today. As the backup for Blake Bortles, Henne has played an important role in mentoring Bortles through the beginning of his career. In the process the two have become friends with Bortles saying often how fortunate he’s been to have Henne as a teammate.
“I just really think we study well together,” Henne said after signing his new deal. “We’re always together, whether we’re in the film room or on the field doing foot work. Just bits and pieces. Anything he wants to ask me – defenses, different coverages, reads – we’re a culminating factor together. It’s just a great relationship and that’s why I wanted to be back here.”
Henne, 30, has appeared in 64 games with 53 starts over the past eight NFL seasons and has completed 1,159 of 1,954 passes (59.3 comp. pct.) for 12,931 yards and 58 touchdowns.
Henne, 6-3, 220, joined the Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent on March 15, 2012 and signed a two-year extension on March 7, 2014. A second-round draft selection (57th overall) by Miami in 2008, Henne played collegiately at Michigan where he received many honors, including 2008 Capital One Bowl MVP, 2006 Manning Award finalist and 2004 All-American Freshman Team.
Signing with the Jaguars puts him in a situation he’s comfortable with and keeps Henne from going through being a stop-gap starter for another team looking for a long-term quarterback.
Really, there’s not that many opportunities like that out there and those teams that needed a quarterback are most likely going to be in the same situation – draft a quarterback – and then I’d be in that same position again. Why not be here where I feel comfortable and love working with Blake?”
It’s clear that Henne believes in *Bortles as well as the young talent on offense the Jaguars have put together in the past couple of years.
“I think in my mind right now, I see him work each and every day and I feel like I have a good work ethic but this kid really wants to get better and has the drive and has the right attitude. When you work with somebody like that, kind of similar to your work ethic, you want to be around that because you two can tie together and be together all the time.”
“There’s still room to get better as we always say, but we have a lot of great, young talented guys. You’ve seen it this past year with Allen Robinson and Blake’s gotten a lot better. You add T.J. Yeldon. You add tight ends doing a great job. Allen Hurns is always consistent. A lot of young talent which is only going to get better through the years.”
