The Denver Broncos have struggled mightily the past two seasons trying to find a third option in their passing game. Carlos Henderson has big time ability…
Third-and-five should never be a death sentence for an NFL offense. When the Denver Broncos drafted Louisiana Tech wide receiver Carlos Henderson, they drafted a cure for their third down problems.
Henderson stands alone in this year’s draft class as far as guys who can make plays after the catch:
Henderson’s ability to elude tacklers and create yardage after the catch is even more impressive when you watch him on tape, and when you see him make plays like this:
The motivation for this post was a Sunday afternoon NFL Red Zone replay. I found myself flipping through the channels during commercial breaks of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and I stumbled onto week eight of the 2016 NFL season on Red Zone Replay.
The Red Zone crew at NFL Network was flipping back and forth between games as the Broncos tried to close out what should have been an easy victory against the San Diego Chargers. The Broncos were up by eight points in the fourth quarter and needed merely a couple of first downs to eliminate the Chargers’ potential comeback attempt.
What wound up happening was the Chargers got a chance to tie the game with a couple of late drives, and the Broncos’ defense had to come through twice on fourth down on separate drives to help seal the deal.
The reason for this near debacle in what should have been a 21 point Broncos victory was troubling to me. The good majority of people might want to just throw some blame Trevor Siemian’s way, but I saw multiple passes from Siemian hit Jordan Norwood right in the hands, and Norwood was either unable to make the catch, or unable to capitalize on yards after the catch.
This is not a post trying to hate on Jordan Norwood, but rather amplify what the Broncos did not have the last couple of seasons. I can’t stress enough how badly a lack of a third weapon in the passing game hindered the Broncos’ ability to perform at an even respectable level offensively for the last two years.
The Los Angeles Rams finished dead last in the NFL in third down conversion rate offensively, converting 32 percent. The Denver Broncos finished 31st, converting a dreadful 34 percent.
The Broncos were also among the worst in the league when it came to yards after the catch, despite having two of the most explosive athletes in the league in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.
It was everything the Broncos could do just to get Thomas and Sanders the ball, but gaining yards after the catch? The Broncos ranked 24th in that particular category.
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In the red zone, the Broncos ranked 28th in the NFL by converting 46.81 percent of their opportunities for touchdowns. That has a lot to do with the team’s inability to run the ball as well, but the Broncos simply couldn’t execute when it came to screen plays, or getting guys open in the red area.
It was inexcusable inefficiency, all of which was on display in a victory over the San Diego — now Los Angeles — Chargers. The crazy thing is, whether it was week eight, week one, or week 17, it seemed like the Broncos’ production (if you can call it that) on third downs, after the catch, and in the red zone was horrendous.
Enter Henderson, the Broncos’ top target this offseason to add ‘juice’ to the offensive side of the football. Vance Joseph talked about adding playmakers to the offensive side of the ball, and many felt like he might have been talking about Christian McCaffrey, but the Broncos never had a realistic shot of getting the Stanford star.
After using their top two picks on big men Garett Bolles and DeMarcus Walker, and using their top free agency assets on Ronald Leary, Menelik Watson, Domata Peko, and Zach Kerr, the Broncos didn’t bring in any ‘juice’ until Henderson was selected with the 82nd overall pick in the draft.
Whether it was making plays deep downfield or after the catch on manufactured touches, Henderson was one of the best big play threats in all of college football last season. Among those with at least 80 receptions, Henderson ranked second in the country (Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma) with nearly 19 yards per catch.
In situations where it was third down and 10 or more yards to go, Henderson averaged 11 yards per reception (six catches). In situations where it was third down and 7-9 to go, he averaged over 16 yards on three catches. Digging deeper into his third down abilities, there was no distance to the sticks on third down that was too much for Henderson. He averaged at least 10 yards per catch in any third down scenario imaginable.
In the red zone, Henderson had a total of 11 catches, nine of which went for touchdowns which ranked him tied for third in the country with Corey Davis, the fifth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and the first wide receiver off the board.
With Henderson’s explosiveness, teams will no longer be able to just take away the Broncos’ two outside stars at wide receiver. They are going to learn that they have to respect the abilities of Carlos Henderson, especially his abilities after the catch. The move to go get Henderson was a huge upgrade for the Broncos, and a game-changing move as far as what the team struggled with the past two seasons offensively.
Hopefully in the third round pick out of Louisiana Tech, the Broncos have someone who can help give the offense more opportunities and create a lot of scoring on his own.