Dilfer Thinks Sanchez Has ‘Distinct Advantage’ Over Chad Henne
It seems that poor Tim Graham of ESPN’s AFC East blog is under fire from his readers for some of his comments regarding his preference of Mark Sanchez over Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne. Writing a post in his own defense Graham asked Trent Dilfer what he thought of the two quarterbacks, here’s what Dilfer had to say on the matter.
For a third opinion, I spoke with ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer to get the perspective of a 14-year veteran who won a Super Bowl.
"I like Chad Henne," Dilfer said. "I think he’s good player. I think he’s limited athletically. I don’t think he’s the same type of athlete as Mark Sanchez. He’s not the same type of thrower. He’s kind of a fastball thrower. He doesn’t have the repertoire as a football player that Mark Sanchez has. That doesn’t mean he can’t develop it, but that’s going to take longer.
"Sanchez is the unique talent of the last five or six draft classes because he has that Alpha male personality. He has that ‘it factor.’ Then physically he has the sudden feet, plenty of arm, is highly accurate, was mature beyond his years as a college player. He has a distinct advantage because of his makeup, the total package, and they’re supporting him in such a great way.
"He’s in as good a situation — because of who he is and what they’re doing as an organization — as you can be in with a young quarterback."
It’s interesting to me because I’ve seen people talk about Henne as a better throwing quarterback … maybe in terms of his deep ball… but maybe that is all. I do think that a lot of people who know a lot more about quarterbacking than I do put a premium on Sanchez’s presence, footwork, and deft touch with a pass. It’s interesting to see who picks whom, but in the end, we’ll just have to watch these two players in their careers proceed over time to find out who’s the better player.
16 Responses to Dilfer Thinks Sanchez Has ‘Distinct Advantage’ Over Chad Henne
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PA Matt says:
I don’t think we can make any judgment on Henne yet. The wildcat nonsense makes it impossible to compare apples to apples. And the guy had a pathetic WR core.
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His TD passes to Keller in the playoffs, all three of them, were awesome.
The cincy one across the field that Keller took all the way.
The rollout in SD where hit an insanely tiny window to find Keller.
The Indy one where he got clocked.He has “it” whatever that is.
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BKWRXWgn says:
I think it’s too soon to debate on which QB is better. Of course being Jets fan I’ll be bias and say that MS has more versatility vs Henne since MS is capable of running the ball in himself for a TD, whereas Henne seems to be more of a pocket QB than anything.
Henne has 3 yrs in the league and learned from Chad Pennington. MS basically had to learn by himself overall since there was no QB vet to learn from. -
SackDance99 says:
Big difference between the 2 last season was that Sanchez was in the harder offense for a QB. Henne may not have had the WRs, but that just made his passes easier: to the RBs and TEs. I watched the first Pats game again recently and that game really showed how not having Leon hurt Sanchez and the Jets offense. Leon had 15 receptions in 7 games, Jones had 10 all season. Leon was a great safety valve in obvious passing downs. Once he was gone, Sanchez had to pass downfield more and defense could focus more on Keller. The Jets improved the WR corps and both LT and McKnight should be good pass-catching threats. More and safer receiving options should make Sanchez’s job a lot easier.
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Brendan says:
SD,
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but wasn’t Sanchez in fact the better deep ball passer last year as well?
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I love this kid. From his strong mental makeup, to his work ethic (not shocking seeing how his father is a fire fighter), to his ability, to his natural leadership qualities, there’s so much to get excited about. I really hope the kid makes a jump this year, he deserves it as much as we do.
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Shamik says:
Good to hear, but Dilfer is a moron so no matter what he says I just discount it and move on to a better analyst.
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Zartan says:
Trent just said, what i’ve been saying all along. Henne is like Joe Flacco,they are heartless deepball throwers.Sanchez is not just gonna put the ball up and hope his man, runs underneath. If he throws that ball deep, it will hit his man right on target, this is why i said we should draft him and why he is special.
Note, i wanted to draft Henne and Flacco, you can go back in the archeives and see for yourself! They are both good QBs but Sanchez is ahead of them.
Stafford is the only new QB that comes in a close 2nd to Sanchez.
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brendan,
Sanchez threw great deep balls and Edwards missed 2 easy bombs (1 against the Bills and in the playoffs against Cincy) that would’ve added to his deep passing totals. Also, you are right, Sanchez had more deep bombs than Henne, but to be fair to Henne, his only WR who could get deep was Ginn, who also couldn’t get off the LOS. I’m willing to accept that Henne has a stronger arm, and Kyle Boller and JP Losman have stronger arms, too. So, what? If a strong arm was all a QB needed, Browning Nagle would’ve been an All Pro.
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MrJetGreen says:
Chad Henne is NOT an NFL QB….LOL.
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Reprocity says:
Sanchez accuracy was all that consistent last year. He really missfired on some throws last year and some were as bad a as Braylon’s drops! I don’t think it’s a serious problem as it was more probably lack of exp rather than natural ability. But untill he does it consistently I would say he’s more accurate than Henne.
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Joe B. says:
Chad Henne seems like a solid QB, but nothing about him stands out as great to me.
Sanchez’s feet and his ability to throw on the run are what will make him great. He’s an above average pocket passer, but certainly not on Manning or Brees’ level in that area. However, once all three of those guys are flushed out of the pocket, I’ll take Sanchez every time. Another thing that makes Sanchez such a good prospect is his willingness to stare down the barrel of the gun and not “chuck and duck” as Bart Scott put it. That speaks to his heart and competitiveness, which he showed he has in spades. He has some maturity issues, but the kid is a winner, and combine that with above average mechanics and you get a top 10 QB, maybe top 5 at his peak.
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eboozer says:
Sanchez already outshines some of the much proclaimed youngsters in the league. Watch Ravens last year v Colts. Flacco looks slow compared to Manning. The difference in QB play was decisive. Not so w Jets v Colts. the young man showed much heart, great feet, cobra strike capability. The game is not too big or too fast for this young man. Have patience, this youngster is learning how to win in this league
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The best thing for Marky mark is having Rex as his head coach. Tell me guys how nice is it to know who our qb is already? Rex picked his starter and went with it, even stuck with him at his lowest time, then rode him into the playoffs. Psychologically that has to do wonders for mark and his confidence in his coaching staff and his abilities to be great. We have a champion in the making here my friends just sit back with your popcorn and enjoy it.
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JesusRevis says:
I got into it with some Dolphins fans about this article on the AFC East blog over at ESPN.com, and its great hearing what Dolphin fans have to say about Sanchez. They think he’s the worst QB of all time and Henne is the second coming of Peyton Manning. After a while, I just had to give up.
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JoeDog says:
This is a no-brainer. If both Henne and Sanchez were available free agents for the same price, which one do you pick?
I’m no football genius, but MS made throws in the playoffs no Jet QB since Namath has made. He can dance away from pressure then throw a strike; he hit Keller (?) for the TD while being absolutely creamed; his long ball is almost as pretty as his mug. I think the Henne/Sanchez debate will seem comical in retrospect.