Chad Henne

Chad Henne in action against the New York Jets in 2009.
No. 7     Jacksonville Jaguars
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1985-07-02) July 2, 1985 (age 26)
Place of birth: Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Weight: 230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
College: Michigan
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 2 / Pick: 57
Debuted in 2008 for the Miami Dolphins
Career history
Miami Dolphins (2008–2011) Jacksonville Jaguars (2012–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
College National 2004 All-American Freshman Team Quarterback 2006 Manning Award finalist 2006 Maxwell Award semifinalist 2006 Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist 2006 Walter Camp Award watchlist 2008 Capital One Bowl MVP 2008 Senior Bowl North Offensive MVP Conference 2004 All-Big Ten Conference Honorable Mention 2006 All-Big Ten Conference Second Team
Career NFL statistics as of 2011
TD–INT 31–37 Passing yards 7,114 QB Rating 75.7 Stats at NFL.com

Chad Steven Henne (born July 2, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League.

He graduated from Wilson Senior High School and attended the University of Michigan.^[1] While attending, Henne became the second all time true freshman starting quarterback in Michigan history; accumulated a total of 32 wins in regular season play, 8,740 offensive yards, and 87 touchdowns; and in his senior season, led the Wolverines to a Capital One Bowl victory over Florida. He was subsequently rewarded as the game's MVP after throwing for over 350 yards.^[1][2][3][4]

Henne's professional career began when he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins, fifty-seventh overall in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Henne spent most of his rookie season on the bench under veteran quarterback Chad Pennington. In his sophomore season as a Dolphin, Henne stepped in to relieve the injured Pennington and started the remaining 13 games.^[1]

Early years[link]

Henne was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, to Sheldon and Suzanne Henne.

In 2000, fives games into his freshman season at Wilson Senior High School in West Lawn, Pennsylvania, Henne stepped in for the injured starting quarterback. After putting up quality numbers, the Bulldogs coach decided to allow Henne to finish the season as the starter. Finishing the 2000 season on a high note, Henne ended up starting his sophomore year and ultimately the rest of his high school career.^[5] At the end of his junior year in 2003, having been offered forty scholarships from various schools, Henne narrowed his college options down to five schools: Miami, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, and Penn State.^[6] Before his first game as a senior, Henne announced his plans to become a Wolverine at the University of Michigan. By the end of his senior year in 2004, Henne had thrown for a total of 7,071 passing yards, ranking third all time in Pennsylvania state history.^[7] Following high school Henne played in the 2004 U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a member of the East team.^[8]

College career[link]

In 2004, Henne entered the 2004 college football season as a freshman for the Wolverines, and third on the depth chart behind redshirt sophomore Matt Gutierrez and redshirt freshman quarterback Clayton Richard. The Monday prior to the season opener against Miami University, Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr announced Gutierrez would start even though he was suffering from a sore shoulder. A few days later Carr decided to allow Henne to start in relief of Gutierrez.^[9]

Henne ended his first career game with a 43–10 win, completing 14 of 24 passes for 142 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Henne was just the second true freshman in Michigan history to start on opening day, a feat not seen at Michigan since Rick Leach in 1975.^[2]

Alongside freshman running back Mike Hart, he galvanized an explosive offensive unit that featured receivers Braylon Edwards, Jason Avant, and Steve Breaston. (All five would later go on to the NFL.) Henne's freshman season was highlighted by a triple-overtime win over in-state rival Michigan State^[10] and a record-tying performance in the Rose Bowl against Texas.^[11] He also tied the Michigan season record for touchdown passes with 25, first set by Elvis Grbac in 1991.^[12]

2006 Michigan Wolverines football team huddle with #86 Mario Manningham, #7 Henne, #16 Adrian Arrington, #72 Rueben Riley, #54 Mark Bihl, #77 Jake Long

Henne was criticized in 2005 after the Michigan, ranked in the top five of the preseason polls, stumbled to a 3–3 start. The sophomore quarterback was particularly scrutinized after his performance in a close loss to Notre Dame, in which he completed fewer than half of his pass attempts and lost a fumble on the goal line. After their 3–3 start, Michigan won four consecutive games to clinch the program's 21st consecutive winning season.

As a junior in 2006, Henne earned Rivals.com All-American third-team honors. He was a Manning Award finalist, Maxwell Award semifinalist, Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist and Walter Camp Award candidate. The All-Big Ten Conference second-team choice started all thirteen games. He hit on 203-of-328 passes for 2,508 yards and 22 touchdowns with eight interceptions, ranking fifth in U-M's season record list for touchdown passes, eighth in attempts and completions and tenth in passing yards. For the third straight year Michigan concluded their season by losing to Ohio State and then dropping their bowl game, this time to Southern California.^[12]

During his senior year in 2007, Henne completed 162 of 278 passes for 1,938 yards, 17 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He suffered a knee injury in the first half of the second game of the season against Oregon, and sat out the second half, as well as subsequent games against Notre Dame and Penn State, before returning to the starting lineup against Northwestern. Henne played his final college game against Florida in the Capital One Bowl. Henne was named the MVP of the game after he led his team to a 41–35 victory over the Gators and reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow.

For his career, Henne completed 828 of 1,387 passes for 9,715 yards, 87 touchdowns, and 37 interceptions.^[13] All five marks are school records. Henne's passing touchdown total is second in Big Ten Conference history.

Statistics[link]

Professional career[link]

Miami Dolphins[link]

Henne was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the second round (57th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. He was the fourth quarterback chosen, following Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco and Brian Brohm. His left tackle at Michigan, Jake Long, was the first selection of the draft and would again play alongside Henne in Miami.^[14]

2008[link]

Henne agreed to a four-year, $3.5 million contract with the team on July 26. Out of training camp Henne earned the backup quarterback role behind starter Chad Pennington. During the second game of the 2008 season, Henne made his NFL debut with 9:42 left; down 31–3 against Arizona. Henne spent the remainder of the season on the bench and only played in two other games.

Henne (right) with Dolphins backup Pat White in 2009.

2009[link]

During the third game of the 2009 season, in the early third quarter of their road game versus the San Diego, San Diego linebacker Kevin Burnett knocked Chad Pennington out of the game with a dislocated shoulder and a torn rotator cuff. Henne came off the bench in relief for the injured quarterback. Though he led the Dolphins to ten points in the final 20 minutes of the game, he failed to throw his first regular season touchdown and even had a pass intercepted and returned for an easy touchdown by Eric Weddle.

After Pennington's season ending injury, Henne made his first start on October 4, 2009, against Buffalo at home. Henne went 14–22 in his pass attempts with one touchdown pass in the Dolphins' 38–10 victory, lifting the team's record to 1–3.

In his second NFL start, he led the underdog Dolphins over the New York Jets, 31–27, in a Monday Night Football game. He had 20 completions out of 26 attempts for 241 yards with two touchdowns. This was Henne's second win as starter and included a 53-yard touchdown completion to Ted Ginn, Jr.

Henne consistently improved as the season went on, passing for 335 yards against New England in Week 13. In Week 15, Henne passed for 349 yards in a loss to Tennessee. In Week 16, Henne passed for 322 yards in a loss to Houston. In Week 17 against the Pittsburgh, Henne had already amounted 140 yards on 16–20 passing, along with one touchdown and interception, but sustained an eye injury and had to leave the game.

2010[link]

On November 10, 2010, after a 4–4 start to the 2010 season, Henne lost his starting job to Pennington. Pennington had led the Dolphins to an AFC East championship in 2008. On November 14, during the Dolphins-Titans game, Henne came in relief for Pennington who went out with an apparent shoulder injury. During the third quarter, Henne himself was injured with an apparent knee injury and was replaced by Tyler Thigpen.^[15] Henne returned to action in Week 12 against Oakland winning 33–17. In Week 13, Henne went back to his inconsistencies. He completed 16 of 32 passes and throwing 3 picks in a loss to the Browns. The following week, he went 5–18 for 53 yards and 1 touchdown in a 10–6 win against the New York Jets. In week 16, he had a good game against the Buffalo Bills going 33–45 for 176 yards with a 1 TD and 1 Int. This came in a loss, which officially eliminated Miami from the playoffs. In week 16, Henne faced the Lions and for 3 quarters looked sharp, however, sloppy play in the 4th quarter led to a loss, going 29 of 44 for 278 yards with a 1 TD and 2 Ints. Henne had 2 opportunities in the 4th quarter to lead a game-winning drive and a game-tying drive, but failed. In the last week of the season against the Patriots, Henne went 6–16 for 71 yards with an INT. He was benched twice during the game for backup Tyler Thigpen. Henne finished the year with 3301 yards along with 15 TD and 19 INT.

His job as starter came into question during the off season when it was reported that the Dolphins sought to acquire Kyle Orton from the Denver Broncos. Coupled with the acquisition of Carolina Panthers QB Matt Moore and rookie draft Pat Devlin, it was unclear if Miami would continue its commitment with Henne. The Orton deal eventually fizzled and Devlin was waived and signed to the practice squad, leaving Moore and Henne as the two QB's on the active roster. It would later be announced that Henne would have the starting job in 2011.

2011[link]

His 2011 Starting campaign began well, throwing for 416 yards and a professional career best passer rating of 93.6. These improvements were overshadowed by Brady's 517 pass yards and the resulting loss to the New England Patriots. It was the seventh game of all time to have two QBs surpass 400+ yards. On Sunday October 2, 2011 in a game against the San Diego Chargers, Henne hurt his left shoulder at the end of a run on a broken play on the Dolphins' second possession and didn't return. His injury was later revealed to be a separated shoulder in his left (non-throwing) arm. Slated to undergo surgery, Henne was placed on the IR and missed the remainder of the 2011 NFL season.^[16]

The Miami Dolphins announced on February 21, 2012 that they will not re-sign Henne. This made him a free agent.^[17]

Jacksonville Jaguars[link]

Henne signed a two-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars on March 14, 2012.^[18]

Statistics[link]

Personal[link]

Henne married Brittany Hartman on July 3, 2010, the day after his twenty-fifth birthday. The couple began dating when Henne was 14 years old.^[19]

See also[link]

• Lists of Michigan Wolverines football passing leaders
• List of Division I FBS passing touchdown leaders

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chad Henne

• Jacksonville Jaguars bio