Henne Taking Reigns Of Leadership

Blast him all you want.  Call him names, say he sucks, beg and pray for a new veteran QB who will cost draft pick compensation and a lot of money.  Who knows, Chad Henne may very well turn out to be everything many of you think he is.  A loser.  Another 2nd round bust in a long line of Miami Dolphin QB blunders.  Then again, maybe he might surprise you.

Those all may be things you can say about him but not taking a leadership role on this team is not one of them.  Not anymore.

The Dolphins are one of the first teams to gather for off-season workouts on their own.  You can thank Jake Long and Chad Henne for that as they were the two offensive leaders who got the team together.  Chad had the play book and the meetings with new OC Brian Daboll prior to the lockout.  It was his job to teach the team and install a new system.  Will it work?  Who knows but it won’t be for a lack of effort on the part of Chad Henne.

"“For me, it was more just being around the guys and trying to be a leader on the football team and showing the guys — the coaches and teammates — that I want to be around them and I want to be in Miami,”"

Jake Long has spoken volumes of his fellow Michigan QB and in the days before the death of Jim Mandich, Mandich told many to get off his back that he would be a good NFL QB, he just needed some time.

What has been lacking in Henne is decisiveness.  Leadership and emotion.  A propensity to check down instead of going deep.  He was a target of Brandon Marshall’s diva attitude last year and was a product of a Dan Henning offense that generated more confusion among the offensive players than it did points on the scoreboard.  The Dolphins have for one more year before he becomes a free agent.

No one believes that Henne should be on the short list for a contract extension and many believe that he will likely not find a role on the team as a starter once free agency begins to kick-off the 2011 season.  Still, Jeff Ireland and company skipped the drafting of a QB to challenge him and it remains to be seen what length they will go to in an open market to replace or challenge him in.

For now, like him or not, know that he is being applauded by his teammates and is earning their respect.  The first step in really becoming the leader on a team.   Know that while some teams opt to not workout on their own, Henne is a driving force to bring his offensive players together and learn a new system while teaching it at the same time.

Also realize that I posted an article that wasn’t about the NFLPA!