Coverage Concerns

However, there are also a few areas where he could stand to improve, starting with his footwork at the head of routes in off coverage – here, he sometimes stopped his feet and got a little flat-footed, making him him a touch slower coming out of his breaks:

 

There was also the fact that Florida played their corners with outside leverage quite a lot, and while this is always going to make their corners vulnerable to in-breaking routes, Henderson could probably have done a better of taking away such routes, knowing that they are likely to be coming:

 

Though sometimes you just get done by a really good route:

 

It is also worth pointing out that, while he has pretty good hands for a corner, there is a reason why he isn’t playing receiver:

 

Possibly the biggest question mark with Henderson’s game, however, is how well he processes on the field – while he wasn’t bad in this regard on tape, he just wasn’t asked to read-and-react underneath in zone a huge amount. There are times on tape when he shows a nice ability to recognize where his responsibilities are and takes away receivers as they move into his zone with good anticipation:

 

There were also times where it was hard to work out exactly what he was doing:

 

The final cause for concern – the easiest to fix – is that he tends to be a little to focus on the backfield, opening him up to getting burnt over the top on run fakes:

 

None of these flaws are deal-breakers, and most are things that can be worked on through an understanding of responsibilities in scheme, but for the others, it is more a matter of understanding that he does have some limitations and polishing up some areas where he could be better. In all, as a coverage player, Henderson is one of the better pure players to come out in recent years, and while there are ways in which he can continue to improve, from a coverage point of view, he is certainly deserving of a first-round grade. However, playing corner isn’t just about coverage…

 

Vincent Richardson on Twitter
Vincent Richardson
Managing Editor at Riot Report
Fan of zone coverage, knee bend and running backs running routes. Twitter: @vrichardson444