Henne, Henne,….Henne And The Jets

If there is one player in the last four years that has garnered the ire of Miami Dolphins fans, it’s Chad Henne.  Right or wrong, Chad Henne’s name will stir more debate than the missed Pat White draft pick and Ted Ginn, Jr. draft pick combined.  Was he ever given a fair shot under the Dan Henning system?  Was he ever given the support both from the coaching staff and the players?  Miami fans, at least some, will say they no longer care.  To them Chad Henne was a bad QB and never should have been leading this team, as evidenced by the turnaround in the final 9 weeks of 2011 under Matt Moore.

Now, rumors are surfacing that Chad Henne will be the number three free agent QB off the market once free agency starts.  Peyton Manning, Matt Flynn, Chad Henne.  It’s also rumored that Henne will make a single season salary in the 4 to 5 million a year range if not more.  Now, rumors are starting to surface that Henne will be the target of the NY Jets.

It makes sense really.  The Jets will install the Miami Dolphins offense under their new OC Tony Sparano.  Sparano was never really given much time to develop his offense in Miami as he ran Bill Parcells’ offense under Henning for three years and then, in a short off-season, ran Brian Daboll’s.  It will be argued that much of the Dolphins late season success came after the team became more acclimated to the Daboll system.

One thing for certain is that Tony Sparano never wavered on his support of Henne throughout the entire time Henne was in Miami.  It would show that his words were not simply player protecting if he does bring Henne in to NY to compete with Mark Sanchez, a job that many in the NY media believe will ultimately become Henne’s.  Yes the same Chad Henne who was consistently booed as walked off the field and was berated with the chants of “We Want Orton” during a pre-season practice last year.

Henne always held his dignity but did admit that the words and barbs hurt some, to which GM Jeff Ireland had a terse remark about (although I can’t recall the quote).  In NY, Henne will find no love from a rabid fan base who would just as soon watch you bleed than help you stop it if you don’t play well.  Henne will bare more than a volley of obscenities if he screws up.  However, Jets fans are growing tired of the non-producing Sanchez and Henne’s quietness would likely be a welcome change to the GQ cover boy attitude of Sanchez.

For the Dolphins it really doesn’t mean much although fans will certainly follow Henne’s career after he leaves and of course will debate once again whether or not the Dolphins let a good player go (Welker) or laugh that the Jets ended up on the short side of a bad stick.  Either way, Henne is likely going to get another shot to prove to Miami fans that he can play consistently at the next level.  Whether or not that is in NY is something that remains to be seen.