The Jaguars have agreed to trade former first-round pick C.J. Henderson and a fifth-round choice to the Panthers (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). In return, the Panthers will send tight end Dan Arnold and a third-round pick to the Jaguars. 
[RELATED: Panthers’ Horn To Miss Time]
Henderson will provide immediate help in the secondary, since the Panthers are going to be without Jaycee Horn for a while. Through his first three pro games, the No. 8 overall pick showed promise as he notched three tackles and one interception to his credit. Henderson, meanwhile, has struggled to find his footing as a pro.
The Jaguars’ old regime made Henderson the No. 9 overall pick in 2020. He went on to appear in just eight games, due to a reserve/COVID-19 list stint and shoulder labrum surgery. Reportedly, even when he was there, the ex-Florida Gator appeared to be disinterested at Jags practice. Still, teams were interested in acquiring him this summer, including the Saints.
With Henderson out of the picture, the Jaguars will move forward with Shaquill Griffin and Tre Herndon as their boundary corners with Chris Claybrooks in the slot. Meanwhile, Urban Meyer & Co. will focus on developing rookie second-rounder Tyson Campbell for a larger role.
On the other side of the ball, Arnold provides Trevor Lawrence with an intriguing weapon. Last year, Arnold finished with 31 grabs for 438 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals. He went on to sign a two-year, $6MM deal with the Panthers, but he’s seen just eleven targets through three games while rookie Tommy Tremble has gotten more of the attention.
Another Gator CB not living up to his collegiate hype
A lot of Florida Gators players seem to not live up to their hype. Or atleast the first round picks. Imo, they get a ton of love for their raw physical tools which can get them far in college but they easily get outpaced in the NFL when everybody else on the field is just as good of an athlete but with better technical skills. Aside from Marcus Maye, there hasn’t really been a standout player drafted from Florida since 2010 and 2011 drafts.
Raw physical tools but requiring coaching up? Early signs suggest that’s Phil Snow’s forte. Will be interesting to see how he does in Carolina.
It’s surprising how many high end Florida picks wash out, but there have been a couple of decent value type picks. I’d say Trent Brown definitely had a good career, but outside of him and Marcus Maye, the next best players are probably Jon Boston and Jarrad Davis. Not too much else to go on there. Pitts has a chance to help that narrative, as does Toney, but we’ll see if that can happen.
I’d say players like DJ Humphries and CJGJ should be considered as pretty solid picks right now.
I’ve said the same for QBs from Texas Unis. (Mahomes aside). I think the main problem is these kids are just brought up on raw athletic ability and given passes through classes and do not develop the skills to think on their feet or just used for that raw talent. enter the nfl, ill equipped for the play book and understanding complex schemes that have several moving parts contigent on one another, and fail.
Agreed. That’s one reason I wasn’t too high on Henderson when the Jags picked him. Was hoping he could be the exception as a Jags fan, but just looking at the history of players to come out from Florida in the past decade and while there have been plenty of useful and NFL players, most of the high picks didn’t live up to their billing. While most players coming out of college are raw to a degree, it just seemed like guys coming out of Florida were being given high draft grades for their physical skills while overlooking any gaps in their technical skills.
Another Jags pick out of Florida is a perfect example…Taven Bryant. First/second round grade and people loved his athleticism and quick first step but didn’t put enough stock into his complete lack of technical skills despite it being a well known issue. I distinctly remember McShay raving about his quick first step while acknowledging that he was extremely raw and needed a year or two to develop.
Of course, where they end up is relevant. Usually the pure athletes tend to generate more excitement, and tend to be picked first. Usually the teams doing the early picking are the ones who are bad at development, and they pick the athletes. I think we’re all in agreement about how some top-end universities-like Florida, Ohio State, or LSU-rake in dozens of elite athletic talents every year, and then maximize their athletic talent by putting them in simple schemes so they don’t have to process more information than they need to. Also, it allows the staff to easily slot in new blue chips as soon as the old ones leave.
The difference between Florida and the others is that lately the Florida prospects have been pretty unsuccessful at the pro level. Ohio State, for instance, is a team that we name a few failures, but they have a few high profile players who have become staples on their respective teams. LSU has too, as do the other blue chips schools.
To be clear, this seems pretty recent-as in, the last ten years or so. Also to be clear, most schools will have an overall disappointing record when it comes to draft picks. Some are worse than others (Florida) and some are better (Alabama). But the thing that’s strange is just the lack of success that we’ve seen lately from Florida, especially for a school with such a good team and such good talent year after year. It’s strange that we’ve seen so many disappointments from a high profile program.
It’s hardly that complicated. Jags reached on him. You could see he wasn’t a first rounder watching him at Florida. All of those first round CBs last year were reaches. I guess there was a run or something, and they decided to go get one even if it was a reach. The guy who threw the shoe and cost them a game last year, Marco Wilson, has been doing fine with the Cardinals so far.
Good pickup for the Panthers. Low risk, high reward for a guy who was a first rounder a year ago
Jags are a model of how not to operate
No kidding. Should’a stuck w/ Tebow. I’m sure Tim could have hauled in 2 passes a game as well. Miserable franchise.
Interesting analysis where Tremble’s 1 target constitutes “more of the attention” than Arnold’s 11.
Wish teams would make trades more often, as holding onto that 3rd edge rusher who sees the field three times a game seems foolish when you have starting positions that need improvement.
Maybe. But we are in an era where you aren’t allowed to “shake it off” anymore. One freak play or even an ill-timed close contact means you need depth at key positions.
Shocked Urban is not coaching USC yet.
Right? Uncreative offenses. Head scratching trades. Maybe best to move on sooner than later.
Next year they will have two former top 10 picks in Horn and Henderson.
Wait till Meyer has another “ illness” and is gone. This franchise is beyond hope.
“..the No. 8 overall pick showed promise”
“Henderson the No. 9 overall pick in 2020”
How do you make this mistake a couple sentences apart? Lol
Teams seem a lot quicker these days to move on from high draft picks. Probably smart to recoup some value while you can.
Because you didn’t read it correctly.
The paragraph citing the number 8 pick is in reference to this year’s number 8 pick. Jaycee horn. Who, as the paragraph states, was the number 8 pick. The paragraph starts by discussing henderson, then goes into horn, who clearly is the one who is the rookie that played in his 3rd game. Not hard to figure out, but not the smoothest transitions and flow if you really want to nit pick.
Moving on to the next paragraph you see the author then discuss henderson, who was the 9th overall pick last year. Might want to reread before you post to criticize. But in your own words “how do you make this mistake?”