Thinking Back: Why Did This Regime Draft Chad Henne?

because it was a new regime and wanted "their people". That and the alternative was develop John Beck.

 

Also he did represent really good value where they drafted him, right at the bottom of the second round.

Remember, that year we had the 32nd pick (due to spygate) and took Merling, bypassing Henne or any other QB.

I don't think they loved Henne so much as he was the best available player at pick #57

 

He fit Parcell's mold of a draftable QB. 3+ year starter with the right size and temperment.

 

They drafted him so they could bench him for penny 2 years later. Their plan is finally coming to fruition bwahahahahahaha

 

To answer the headline:

Because Chad Pennington was a Jet.

 

He was better than what we had at the time...

 

John Beck ****ing sucked.

 

He had the intangibles, and they hoped that they could craft the rest. Honestly, he was a good prospect after Ryan and Flacco. It's not like they just wasted the pick.

 

The Phins have been looking for their franchise QB since Marino retired. We have wasted numerous 2nd rounders and trades in trying to get this resolved. Brees could have been that guy but we went with Daunte Culpooper instead. We still may not have our franchise guy but maybe some day the front office will get it right.

 

Looking at that draft I would have to say he was the best available QB left to draft. Only QBs taken after Chad Henne in 2008 was John David Booty in round 5 and Colt Brennan in round 6. Neither were expected to do much in the NFL which they didn't.

after the 2nd round, the 2008 draft was not deep in much talent at all so I would have to say they grabbed what was left in QBs and figured he would be a developmental type guy. I believe if Green Bay had not taken Brian Brohme right before us, we may have taken him. But dial up the 2008 draft. There wasn't really much left , talent wise, after the first round finished. It was not a good overall draft for any kind of talent once it hit the second round. A few here and there but thats about it.

 

Because they thought they could make him more accurate, and stop him from staring down receivers.

 

If they really believed that he was the franchise QB, that some are reacting like he was, wouldn't they have jumped all over his *** with the first pick of the 2nd round..

They musn't of had such a high grade on the player to do that. at least not as high as the backlash to the pennington start would indicate.

 

I don't think Parcells, who was calling the personnel shots, believes in franchise QBs so much. He more believes in franchise LBs and winning the game in the trenches.

 

This front office couldn't draft and develop a QB if they're jobs depended on it.......hopefully it did.

 

Which begs the question, if Henne had been picked by someone else, and Penny didn't fall into our lap, what the **** were we going to do at QB? Ride it out with Josh McCown and John Beck?

Or perhaps we would've finished with a top 5 pick the next year and drafted...wait for it...MARK SANCHEZ!!!!!!

 

im soooo glad that didnt happen because sanchez sint all he is cracked up to be either. still the most overrated QB in the league

 

Coaches like to say that they design a system to fit their players. Unfortunately, there are very few coaches that can actually do that (Shula comes to mind). Most coaches have a system and make the players adapt. If a player doesn't adapt enough they blame it all on "execution". Henne has the talent and personality to win. He struggled with his accuracy in college, but he's easily among the top half of NFL QBs in completion percentage. If that's not accurate enough for a coach to win with then the coach is the problem. To answer the question, they drafted him because he had talent and it was a position of need. He's benched now b/c the offense is struggling and they're searching for answers. You can't change offensive systems in mid-season so the blame falls on Henne for failing to fit the system instead of falling on Henning for failing put the players he has in the best position to succeed.

 

Yeah, I was half-joking. Sanchez doesn't meet any of this regimes requirements for a QB anyhow. He only started one year, and doesn't meet their prototypical size.

 

According to Mortensen, who was on the LeBatard show this afternoon, the team had been talking about this for several weeks and it did not just pop out of nowhere. He reiterated earlier reports over the summer that they were dissapointed in the speed of Henne's progress.

Also he stated that the team, and people throughout the league, have great respect for Henning and that everyone he has talked to has said that any QB should be able to play in Henning's sytem (don't shoot the messenger)

Finally, he completely nixed any Carl Petersen talk and stated that he has not heard anything which leads him to believe this regime is in trouble but that could change if the team completely falls apart.

 

Henning has a great reputation, but the fact is that the system he uses has been unchanged for for years. That's the way of the NFL and college for that matter. I think of a guy like Urban Meyer who is considered one of the best coaches in college football. Despite that reputation, he can't adapt his system to a drop back QB. He's a coach who has a system rather than a coach who tailors his system to fit his players. Henning is doing the same.

 

I went to a few weeks of summer camp in Davie. First time I have ever gone, it was great, hot but great. Day after day in any drill you can think of, the QB with the best looking thrown ball, the most accurate ball and above all, the most or best placed ball, was Chad Pennington. I ignored their numbers and have pretty bad eyes at this stage in my life. I waited for all three of them to throw and when I saw the best one I always asked someone" Who threw that " 9 times out of ten, I was told, Chad Pennington. Anyone that thinks he cannot throw a long ball, let me tell you, you are wrong, he throws a NICE long ball, right into the corner of the endzone time after time after time.

 

Not in the defense of Henning but in every system, even the simplest of simple offensive schemes, the QB is given choices. Henne chooses, time after time, to take the easiest of the choices. He will not chance throwing the ball downfield if a defender is within 3 yards of his receiver, will not do it. All systems have choices, once in a while you have to take a shot, or a chance. I think they finally realized, Henne does not take a chance, nada.

 

I don't disagree with you, but what is the best system for Henne?

In what offense (or on what team) would he be performing exponentially better than he is performing here? I don't think there is one, but I'd love to hear a different view.

 

Henne is not, hate to use the term Good enough but I guess thats it, not good enough for a system to be designed around. Kid is a prototypical great backup QB in the NFL. I think the coaching staff saw that and gave him every chance to prove them wrong, he did nothing to prove otherwise.

 

That's an issue that has magically appeared, as I understand it, in the last 3 years. I didn't follow him in college, but everything I hear is he put the ball here, there, and everywhere in between.

When a player plays that way for 4 years, and then suddenly stops doing that, or goes to the point where people say he's afraid to do that, something is up. The only logical thing that stands out is that Henning (and maybe Sparano) are ripping him when those attempts don't go right. They've probably made it very clear that they don't want him taking the shot unless he's 100% positive it will work. And at that point worked his nerves up on something he used to be able to do well. The reason I think that is the emphasis by this offense on Turnover differential. I'm sure it's something that gets harped on every day, if not multiple times a day.

Now a lot of that is speculation. But you have to admit it doesn't make sense that a guy who could do it before, and did do it before for 4 years, suddenly has turned into Captain Checkdown, Mr. Dink & Dunk, etc.

That's at least the explanation I use so that I can sleep at night

 

i really think thats the key point here. anyone who hasnt seen progress in Henne is blind but at the same time anyone who doesnt see that he got bogged down in trying to figure out how to beat umbrella coverage is also not seeing the game for what it is. He has really not made progress in that one area and its killing him in the red zone.

there is zero reason to give up on Henne long term but if you want to add a spark to the team its not a bad idea to sit him now and have him process the last eight games and go back to schooling him in the fundamentals of how to attack a zone coverage. The progress is coming overall but it is slow

 

That wasn't the case in college. He was much more aggressive then, which leads me to believe that this staff is stressing "mistake free" football so much that he's not allowed to take chances.

 

IMO most of the original west coast system offenses would work just fine. I don't mean the Bill Walsh stuff. I'm talking about something like Norv Turner runs.

 

Why did they draft Henne? Because Parcells was convinced at the time that Matt Ryan was not a franchise QB. He figured he could draft Long at left tackle and I assume when Henne was still on the board in the second round. He decided that Henne would be just as good as Ryan. At least that was the reports coming out of Dolphins camp after the draft. Parcells was wrong about Ryan and it appears he was also wrong in his assessment of Henne as the long term answer at QB for the Dolphins.

 

I completely agree...I went back and watched some highlights of Henne from the draft and stuff and you can really see him put the ball right on his reciever in some heavy traffic. He was taking some chances out there and doing well with them.

I really agree that they have stressed make the right decision, get the ball out fast, all that stuff so much that the guy has just become mechanical with no improv. There is no need to get rid of the ball fast when you have really good time in the pocket, or you have stepped up out of the pocket. Hang onto that ball that extra second and let the recievers get open.

 

Umm.. So do you guys still think Henne is better than Sanchez?

 

Pennington can throw a decent deep ball to about 40-45 yards (maximum maybe 50), it's the intermediate routes that are a problem. He throws ahead on his outs to nail them. It works, he just is unbelievably accurate and that's why he's able to do it. Manning doesn't have a cannon either. He has a stronger arm, but much like Pennington you place the ball in a certain spot to avoid having to throw late and missing or getting picked. I've only seen one game where Pennington looked frustrated and didn't scan the field. That was against Baltimore. This team will give Pennington time, this time around, no doubt (Tennessee might be tough though). Henne had plenty of time against Baltimore, plenty.

Marshall should make a big difference though for him.

 

Does a Bear Sh*t in the Woods?

The question should be does Shotty's play calling fit Sanchez better than Henning's does Henne?

 

I think he is a great solution to Arizona's void, actually. would suit them decently. If we were to consider a trade.

 

Then the regime is not blameless. They deserve their fair share of criticism too.

 

Then he ran away like a little girl instead of sticking around to fix his mistake. You know I have lost a ton of respect for Parcells in the last 6 months.

 

If this season ends and we fire Sparano, HEnning and have no franchise QB (don;t believe in Henne) then there has been absolutely NO rebuild other than enough talent to become mediocre.

But the house is in disarray. Bill left a slight mess.