Houston Texans: OT Seantrel Henderson needs to step his performance

The Houston Texans signed Seantrel Henderson this off season to help bolster the offensive line but he looks like he’s behind the curve a bit, what’s going on? Here’s why he needs to step it up.

The Houston Texans are doing their utmost to capitalize from a dismal 4-12 performance from last season. Although the hopes were high that the team would perform well, they were quickly dashed when Deshaun Watson sustained a ACL injury shortly after Week 8 against the Seattle Seahawks.

I had thought this team was seriously going to contend for not only the AFC South title but to make some noise in the playoffs but things quickly settled to earth with substandard quarterback play from Tom Savage.

One of the weaknesses of the Houston Texans was consistently the offensive line play which was highly-regarded as the worst in professional football. Most of the members of that unit are no longer with the team as they were mostly matadors eating up space and not being much effective at all.

But with notable investments made in signing Zach Fulton and Senio Kelemete in free agency, the franchise is signaling that they want to bolster production in such an important unit for the team.

Another free agent signing is of Seantrel Henderson, an offensive tackle that spent his last season with the Buffalo Bills. Brian Gaine is quite familiar with Henderson as he was the vice president of player personnel with the franchise before becoming the general manager of the Houston Texans.

He was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Henderson but so far, nothing but stale air has

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been caught in that said bottle.

Henderson was signed on a one-year, $4 million deal with $1 million guaranteed for this season so the risk is low but I had hoped he’d have a better start than what I saw against the Kansas City Chiefs this past Thursday.

I’m not sure if it’s conditioning or if he’s still adjusting to being back in game mode as the man is recovering from Crohn’s disease, a serious ailment that makes him a walking miracle that he’s on the gridiron competing.

But Henderson tended to get pushed around a bit against the Chiefs and with his massive 6-foot-7, 330-pound frame, I’m scratching my head as to how that is happening.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Henderson was the 2nd-lowest ranked offensive player with an overall grade of a 50.6. Last season, hitting that mark would’ve been extraordinary — most averaged grades in 30s and 40s — but expectations have changed now that it’s a new season.

His pass blocking grade was even worse with a 40.2 with his run blocking grade being a bit better at 53.5. Keep in mind that PFF uses a grade scale based off 0 to 100 with a passing grade being 70 or better. It’s just like back in school ladies and gents! So to say that Henderson needs to step it up is an understatement and I know he knows what needs to be done out on the field.

I had pinned him as a potential starter at right tackle this season but with Chad Slade netting a 69.5/79.0/63.7 in his performance his past season, Henderson may have some serious competition. The bulk of Slade’s snaps came from right guard (28) but he did take seven snaps at right tackle. However, he gave up one quarterback hit and one QB pressure.

Henderson, on the other hand, took 19 snaps at right tackle and allowed one QB hurry and one QB pressure against the Chiefs this past week.

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Can Seantrel turn things around? I certainly hope so as he does have three more weeks to turn things around to make a stronger case. We’ll have to see how that pans out though.

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