Tight Ends Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith Heading To Free Agency
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's no secret that Bill Belichick is a big fan of Hunter Henry. Buckle up, Patriots fans, because the star tight end is about to become a free agent.
The Los Angeles Chargers have told Henry that the team will not be using their franchise tag on him this offseason, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, so Henry will become an unrestricted free agent next week. Expect the Patriots, with a truckload of cash to spend this offseason, to be one of the first teams to call Henry when the legal tampering period opens on Monday.
We'll see if Henry feels the same way about the Patriots, though. He's made it clear that he wants to get paid this offseason, but he also wants to go to a championship-caliber team. The Patriots can provide him with a big payday, but they don't really fall into the latter at the moment given the giant question mark at quarterback.
But tight end has been a major issue for New England over the last three seasons, and Henry would be a huge offseason splash that could help the Patriots bounce back from a 7-9 campaign in 2020.
Henry caught 60 passes for 613 yards and four touchdowns for the Chargers in 2020. The former second-round pick missed all of 2018 after tearing his ACL, but has 196 catches for 2,322 yards and 21 touchdowns over his five-year career.
And if the Patriots come up short on the Henry front, there is another pretty good tight end who is heading to free agency as well. The Titans will not be tagging Jonnu Smith, via Schefter, so he too will be available for tight end-needy teams. Smith had a career-year for Tennessee last season, setting new highs with 41 catches, 448 receiving yards and nine touchdowns (one of which was a rushing score). The 25-year-old has found the end zone 17 times over his four-year career, missing just four games.
