The Bengals senior personnel executive shared his thoughts about the Bengals newest addition
The Cincinnati Bengals defensive end depth has been tested with two players lost for the season with Cam Sample’s injury and Jeffrey Gunter’s retirement, while Myles Murphy is starting the season on IR.
In the meantime, the Bengals added one of the top defensive ends available after cutdowns in KJ Henry from the Washington Commanders.
Henry was a former teammate of Myles Murphy, playing opposite him on the Clemson Tigers defensive line. Like Murphy, Henry was also recruited to Clemson by current Bengals DL coach Marion Hobby.
Henry had a solid but not spectacular first season last year, playing a good rotation of snaps and ending up with 1.5 sacks and good grades against the run. He performed even better this preseason, which made him a very surprising cut.
The Bengals seem excited to add him, going off the quotes from Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown in this post on the Bengals website by Geoff Hobson.
“He has that big personality. He leads by example. He leads vocally. They rave about his character down there,” said Brown. “And his skill set translates very well to what we do on defense.
“We all know the players they have at Clemson, and he was very good there. We got a chance to see him this preseason. He’s a guy that gets off the ball. He uses his strength, and he can also get on the edge with speed. He’s got a good sense of when to counter, when to come inside to put pressure on the quarterback. We like the fact he’s well-rounded, and you can put him on the edge on first and second downs, and he also proves he has really good value in the pass rush on third down.”
Overall, the team seems very excited to have Henry. With his former teammate and coach vouching for him, they had lots of insight into him and his character. He should be a great help through at least the first four weeks or until Myles Murphy is healthy again, and after that, who knows, he will have a chance to play himself into sticking on the roster long-term.
