Jacksonville Jaguars pick Florida DB CJ Henderson in Round 1 of NFL Draft
By SDS Staff
Published:
Misunderstood.
That’s the pinned tweet on CJ Henderson’s Twitter page.
The post is accompanied by a highlight reel, ending with Henderson silencing his skeptics.
The Florida cornerback had more than his fair share of criticism this past season. Injuries, missed tackles, not enough impact plays? Analysts had their opinion.
Those who played against and with Henderson had quite another.
“In man coverage, there’s not a better corner in the country,” Joe Burrow told SDS Florida columnist Neil Blackmon. “(Henderson) was the guy you gameplanned around when you played them for two consecutive seasons. And really, he was the only guy who held his own against Ja’Marr Chase.”
“CJ is all about football,” teammate Lamical Perine told Blackmon. “There wasn’t ever anyone who worked harder. CJ finished every drill, did every film study. I laugh at some of the criticism. People say he couldn’t tackle, but he’s on film making open-field tackles or running down Deebo (Samuel) from behind and making perfect form tackles. There’s not a tougher dude and not a smarter football player. And he’s the fastest guy on most teams, too.”
Clearly, the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed. They selected Henderson with the No. 9 overall pick in the 1st round of the NFL Draft on Thursday.
Henderson became the 4th Gators DB taken in the opening round in the past 8 drafts.
He’s one of the best, too. Henderson excels in isolation, so much so that a Georgia assistant coach said, “we didn’t work on him in man because no one would be open.”
Florida CB CJ Henderson career in single coverage:
172 Snaps
49 Targets
1 TD allowed pic.twitter.com/nfZzGrOtsX— PFF College (@PFF_College) April 21, 2020
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
