Should The Dolphins Trade Chad Henne?
By Brian Miller
Chad Henne came to Miami in last years 2nd round of the NFL draft. He has a big arm, big frame, and on top of everything else, he is smart. The future of the franchise? Maybe, but should the Dolphins try and trade their number 2 QB?
Surely there are teams out there who could use a young QB prospect with a lot of upside. Tampa Bay loves QB’s and although they drafted Josh Freeman last weekend, that hardly means that the team isn’t looking for another one. What about Denver? The only people who are in love with Kyle Orton are his family. San Francisco maybe? Washington? Cleveland? Seattle? Tennessee? Bengals? Jaguars? Oakland, Philly, Minnesota, and St. Louis could all be looking for future QB’s as well. The question is, “do the Dolphins really need Chad Henne?” Do they really want him?
If you look at what has transpired over the last week you may soon be asking yourself those very questions as well. Sure, the Phins drafted Pat “Wildcat” White with the 44th overall pick. Sure the media all say he will play a slew of positions. The Dolphins however say that, for now anyways, he will be strictly a QB.
It’s important that White learns the offense from the QB spot instead of the intricate WC package the Phins will roll out. The more time he takes to study the offense now from one spot means he won’t spend as much time studying the others later. But the Dolphins you see don’t have it all tied up in a pretty little aqua and orange bow. They have a problem.
The NFL rules will only allow you to play 48 on game day. While each team carries 53 players 8 on each team sits on the “inactive” list. The league does however allow teams to designate an emergency 3 QB. Meaning that a team will activate 2 QB’s and the 3rd QB will carry a clipboard. It works like this.
QB 1 starts the game, gets hurt and QB 2 comes in. QB 3 is inactive. QB 2 gets hurt and QB 3 becomes active and plays. If the 3rd QB enters a game prior to the start of the 4th quarter, then the first two QB’s can not come back into the game.
So what’s the dilemma? Well, for starters if the Dolphins keep all 3 QB’s active then all 3 can play at anytime. Meaning Pat White can enter the game for the WC package but Chad Henne technically would be the number 2 QB. It also means that some other player will be inactive and that player usually is a special teams contributor. We all know that these Dolphins coaches love players who play ST’s.
What does that all have to do with trading Chad Henne? Simple. The Dolphins, as of now, don’t know if they want to keep all 3 QB’s active and Tony Sparano said that it would be “the last of all the equations.” So it goes without saying that if the team puts one QB on the inactive list, it will be Chad Henne.
Pat White is too valuable to the teams offensive success when you consider the fact that they have basically made the decision to move forward with the WC formation being a big part of their system. Say what they want but Pat White wasn’t drafted as a pure passer. He was drafted so the team had another option when they run the formation or change to it.
What happens to Henne if he is the number 3 inactive QB? Well for starters, if Chad Pennington goes down in a game, Pat White is the starting QB and not Chad Henne. Why? Because as stated above, if Henne comes in, then Pat White, hurt or not, can’t re-enter the game. If the team deems White’s value to the offense more than the progression of Chad Henne, then shouldn’t the Dolphins seriously consider their options of trading him? If those options even exist?
Chad Henne has proven nothing in his one year stint so far with the Phins. He led one touchdown drive against Arizona. His only action of last season. While he has learned behind Chad Pennington, this training camp may not actually be a competition. If the Dolphins decide that they have to have Pat White activated, then Henne stands to be the one carrying the clipboard on the sidelines.
In the event that Pennington should get hurt, the Phins could always pull White from the field and put Henne in if White struggles with his progress as a QB. It’s an option, but not a very good one if the Phins have any hopes of Henne being their future.
I’m not so sure that is the case anymore. While it is hard to envision Pat White as the future leader of this teams offense, it’s also considerably harder to envision this offense and the new formations that they run, being done with a legitimate pocket passing QB at the helm. When you add it up, you have to ask yourself what the Phins think will be their future and will Henne or any other pocket style QB be the answer. So far, I am leaning towards no.
The WC and spread offenses run best when your QB lining up under center is the guy that is best to run those offenses. When you have to substitute players to make the formation work you take away the element of surprise and chance. Pat White could sit under center and run the spread and WC all day long. every other play, every other series, and the defenses would have no clue when it was coming. The second you move your starting QB into the wide-out spot, your tipping your hand.
Chad Henne’s future in Miami seems, on the surface, to be secure. Make no mistake, his future as the Dolphins starting number 1 QB isn’t south Florida sunshine. When all those questions begin to pop up to the surface, the reality seems to indicate that as long as the Miami Dolphins plan to utilize the WC formation, Chad Henne may not be this teams future.
And if that’s the case…then would the Dolphins would be smart to move him now? Sign a veteran to carry the clipboard, and move on. It no longer appears that the Dolphins will carry all 3 QB’s active on Sundays and it also appears that it doesn’t really matter much anymore.
By no means do I believe that the Fins should trade Henne, especially when their rookie 3rd string QB has yet to don a helmet or shoulder pads, it’s merely a suggestion of thought, a what if scenario. It’s a subject that at some point this season will be talked about…I’m simply getting a head start.
Competition in training camp? The best QB may not win, but the best option for the Dolphins? Well, that is the final question now isn’t it?