Why the Denver Broncos won’t cut Carlos Henderson
The Denver Broncos are in a difficult position with second-year wide receiver Carlos Henderson. They may not be able to cut ties with him just yet…
The Denver Broncos are one year into their investment on 2017 third-round pick Carlos Henderson and after Wednesday’s post-practice comments, it almost sounds like he’s on borrowed time.
Henderson has been the subject of many offseason pieces here at Predominantly Orange, and after his stellar college career at Louisiana Tech, he became a favorite of many NFL Draft analysts and experts.
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Henderson’s ability after the catch in college was one of the best we’ve evaluated, and certainly over the past 3-5 years among college players coming in.
The hope was that he would at least be able to come in and seize the Broncos’ kick return job last season, but that didn’t happen after he suffered a season-ending thumb injury in training camp.
After going on IR, Henderson added insult to injury with an arrest over the offseason in Louisiana.
The Broncos haven’t disciplined him for that, but in a critical offseason with a lot of extra competition at his position, Henderson has missed too many reps and is being passed on the depth chart by guys who are out at practice making plays.
Vance Joseph didn’t mince words when he essentially said Henderson’s roster spot was in jeopardy but was that a bit of a hollow threat?
The Broncos have a precedence of sticking with high draft picks, at least through their first contract.
One situation that might be comparable to the current situation facing Henderson is that of Ronnie Hillman.
Hillman’s issues were different, but he was also in the coach’s doghouse as a rookie in 2012 and fans had been calling for him to be cut before his rookie season was even over.
Not only did Hillman defy the odds and play out his entire rookie contract with the Broncos, but the team actually re-signed him.
Now, I’m not trying to say Carlos Henderson’s best case scenario is similar to Ronnie Hillman’s, but it would be extremely unlike John Elway and the Broncos to cut bait with a rookie after one season with the team.
The only draft picks taken by this team that were cut and didn’t make it through their first contract were Montee Ball (second round, 2013, cut after two seasons) and Michael Schofield (third round, 2014, cut in fourth season).
Cutting Henderson after one year with the team would be unprecedented for Elway, so despite Henderson’s presence (or lack thereof) at OTAs, a strong couple of weeks at training camp and in preseason work should be enough to justify a sixth spot in the receiver group and a place on special teams.
The Broncos stuck with players like Cody Latimer for their entire rookie contract. They stuck it out with Kayvon Webster. They stuck it out with Ty Sambrailo, trading him entering his third NFL season.
They’re currently sticking it out with Paxton Lynch, Jeff Heuerman, Max Garcia, and other players we all thought they might cut ties with.
Elway likes to see a return on his investment in the NFL Draft, and he’s willing to wait it out.