Cedric Benson isn’t the only veteran with extensive starting experience looking for work as the start of training camp draws closer.
Linebacker E.J. Henderson started 105 games for the Vikings over the last nine years, including 14 last year, but the team was content to let him go as a free agent. The team never said never about bringing him back, but Jasper Brinkley’s installed at middle linebacker. Lingering questions about knee and leg injuries and the fact that Henderson’s best suited to a role on the first two downs likely contributed to that decision and to the league’s indifference toward him this offseason.
Tom Pelissero of ESPN1500.c0m reports that Henderson’s stepping up his efforts to find work. Henderson is “circulating word” that he’s 100 percent healthy and ready to get back on the field. Pelissero writes that it is unclear if Henderson would accept a one-year deal near the minimum -- his salary last year was $4.7 million -- but, like Benson, he probably doesn’t have much of a choice if he wants to keep playing.
Henderson’s limitations in regard to playing in passing situations restrict the number of landing spots for him, although Paul Gutierrez of CSNBayArea.com mentions him as a possible beneficiary of the cap space provided by signing Tyvon Branch to a new deal. Benson also gets mentioned as a possibility for the Raiders, which just underscores how few established players looking to keep playing are still unemployed at this point in time.
