COSTA MESA, Calif. -- In case you were wondering where Hunter Henry is after watching the Los Angeles Chargers lose to the Denver Broncos on Monday, I can confirm that the Arkansas product is present and accounted for in the Chargers’ locker room this week.
Henry said he’s not concerned that he finished without a catch or a target for the just the third time in his two-year NFL career.
“We had some stuff called early on that we just checked out of, and it’s just kind of how the game flowed,” Henry said. “We kind of stalled as an offense, too. So we’ve just got to get into a rhythm early and try to get things rolling.
“But I stayed in the game pretty good. You just try to stay in it mentally. It is tough at times, once you get into the fourth quarter, but I’ve done it before. Once they call your name at the end, you need to make a play, so it’s not a big deal.”
Henry also was not targeted in a Week 16 loss against the Cleveland Browns last year and a Week 2 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016.
Henry finished with 36 receptions on 53 targets for 478 receiving yards and eight touchdowns last season as a rookie, seven of which came inside the red zone.
With another year to work with quarterback Philip Rivers this offseason and Antonio Gates nearing the end of his career at 37 years old, Henry was expected to shoulder more of the workload offensively. However, Henry played just 23 snaps on Monday compared to 39 snaps for Gates, who finished with two catches for 17 yards.
“I think if you look at our record, we’ve done a pretty good job of getting everybody involved,” Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt said. “We had a handful of plays that we called to get the ball specifically to Hunter, and we didn’t get the right look.
“So it wasn’t for lack of trying. We didn’t have a lot of pass attempts until we got into that no-huddle period at the end, where were trying to catch up. And that’s all a part of it, too.”
Rivers also pointed to the fact that the Chargers ran just 56 plays against the Broncos and had 17 first downs. Last season, the Chargers averaged 64 plays and 21 first downs a game.
“You just never know going into the game how it’s going to come up,” Rivers said. “I couldn’t have predicted that Hunter didn’t have a catch. I wouldn’t have predicted that, but that’s the way it came up.
“All of a sudden, Travis [Benjamin] had a big-play touchdown. Keenan [Allen] obviously got some balls. Gates got some late -- it was just kind of the way it came up.”