Daiyan

Henley

It’s kind of surprising that the illness has lasted this long — Henley drew another DNP in practice on Friday after also missing Wednesday — and even despite him playing through it on Monday Night it’s certainly possible he sits this game out.

Henley was added to the Chargers’ injury report prior to their Monday night game with an illness. He played in the team’s win over the Raiders, so a missed practice two days later is a surprise, but not concerning yet. Henley is still on track to play in Week 3.

The Chargers announced on Monday that Henley will be added to the injury report due to an illness. The third-year linebacker totaled eight tackles and a sack in the team’s Week 1 win over the Chiefs, and would join fellow linebacker Denzel Perryman on the sideline if he is unable to play. It’s not often we see players miss games due to illnesses, so we would still expect to see Henley suit up despite this late development.

Henley played through a torn labrum for four months while breaking out in his second NFL season last year. The 25-year-old totaled 92 tackles, 13 quarterback pressures, six pass breakups and one interception. He now has ample time to ramp up ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

Henley had surgery to repair a torn labrum that he played through for the final four months of the season. Henley told ESPN’s Kris Rhim that he expects to be “100 percent” before training camp. If for whatever reason Henley is slow coming back, it could be an opening for 2024 third-rounder Junior Colson.

Henley told The Athletic’s Daniel Popper that he suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder during the Chargers’ Week 4 loss to the Chiefs. Henley nonetheless finished with 49 tackles in run defense and 50 in coverage this season.

Henley (6’1/225) worked his way up the college ranks, spending 2017-2021 at Nevada where he was named Second Team All-Mountain West Conference before transferring as a graduate to Washington State. He made a seamless transition to the Power Five level, earning First Team All-Pac-12 recognition while becoming the first Butkus Award finalist in Wazzu history. A textbook finisher thanks to his 33” arms, Henley led the P5 with a 90.3 PFF tackling grade thanks to his relentless motor and pristine 5.2% missed tackle rate last year. He ran a 95th percentile 4.54s 40-yard dash and has had demonstrable success in coverage, holding opponents to a 39.0 NFL Passer Rating when targeted and picking off four passes in 2021. He can sometimes make bad reads and needs to keep his pad level low when engaging blockers. However Henley has shown the ability to be a complete linebacker, be it bringing pressure off the edge with ferocity, crashing down on run plays or, dropping into coverage. A physical middle linebacker whose play strength far outweighs his size, Henley has legitimate NFL starter potential.

Henley (6'1"/220) is a big pickup for the Cougars. He was a second team All-Mountain West linebacker, racking up 94 tackles (two for loss), four interceptions, three fumble recoveries and he scored two defensive touchdowns. USC was also in for his services, but he chose WSU.