Cleveland Browns defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson is set to join the Dallas Cowboys, as first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Henderson would assume the same role in Dallas, where he would join former Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan again. Henderson was one of the assistants who was retained after the dismissal of Eric Mangini last offseason. Now that he had an option to leave Cleveland, it appears he is going to take it.
On Tuesday, the Dallas News confirmed with Henderson that he was in discussions with the Cowboys.
"Right now nothing has transpired between me and the Cowboys. We are in discussions but nothing has happened," Henderson said. "I don't want to speak out of turn."
In Henderson's first two years with the Browns, the team's pass defense ranked 18th and 29th overall. This year, the pass defense rose all the way up to 2nd overall, even without having T.J. Ward available for most of the season at safety. One of the keys to the unit's success was nickelback Dimitri Patterson, a late-offseason addition who basically turned out to be a gem at his position.
Hat tip to BrownsFanRegina for posting about this as a FanShot.
0 recs | 25 comments
i think this will hurt us a lot.
BG_Dom84 - January 11, 2012
yea idk about that. we have great players already. we can find a coach for them and they’ll retain their amazing talents methinks.
pwndabear - January 11, 2012
we do have solid guys. but good coach goes a long way.
BG_Dom84 - January 11, 2012
I actually think we’ll be fine. a lot of the schemes and technique used last year wasnt all that great. I tihnk we have some talent that wasn’t used properly.
Gabe Durrant - January 11, 2012
What schemes and technique, exactly, are you referring to?
rufio - January 12, 2012
You know, the ones where we cover the receivers.
Kimble_79 - January 12, 2012
I’m kind of serious. If people are believing that guy on frowns, I see that as a problem.
rufio - January 13, 2012
Pass D rated high because we had no run D and everyone ran on us. I’m surprised Dallas kept Ryan at all the way he got torched in division matchups with Giants and Philly. I’m over all the Ryan boys at this point. All over rated IMO.
browndawgbacker - January 11, 2012 via iPhone app
Too true. We had the second-fewest passing attempts against us in the league, behind KC. Of course, that doesn’t totally negate the fact that when teams did pass, they were not very successful – we had the fifth-fewest yards per passing attempt.
And yes, we had the second-highest number of rushing attempts on defense during the regular season. Suffice to say we weren’t good at stopping the run, ranking at around 20th in average yards per carry.
batard - January 11, 2012
I think we were somewhere in the 5-10 range in points given up though so that’s a good indicator.
HenryDawg - January 11, 2012
I think that second stat, 5th fewest yards, is pretty good – maybe especially because of the first stat. If you’ve been getting the ball shoved up your butt by the RB all day and suddenly it comes flying through the air and you a) not only aren’t caught completely off guard and b) react well then something about the pass D must be good.
JustBob - January 11, 2012
Lost our best positional coach. Unfortunate that we’ve lost some quality assistants the past 2 years.
Roger Dorn - January 11, 2012
No worries, Shurmur will be taking over this position as well.
Kimble_79 - January 11, 2012
This may give Dick Juron a chance to get someone in who’s 100% on his page. Not to say Henderson wasn’t or was holding the D back in any way… Anything I’ve ever heard about the guy was positive.
Good for Dallas. Potentially good for the coaching staff in the long run.
LocalMan - January 11, 2012
Some of the comments from the Cowboy fans (from the link in the fanShot) don’t seem positive. They’re mad that they’re getting our rejects because our "defense sucks".
One example
Brownie's Year - January 11, 2012
Wow. Did they not hear about how our defense dominated Brees and Brady with Ryan as DC? I was actually thinking about that Saints game the other day and I’m still impressed with it.
Doc's Kid - January 11, 2012
Let Cowboy fans think that. They’re almost as dumb as Steeler fans.
Brownie's Year - January 11, 2012
It must be so difficult to be a fan of “America’s Team”. That poor guy has to put up with all of those primetime games and media coverage. Sounds rough.
Legoman0721 - January 12, 2012 via Android app
Henderson will be a D coordinator some day, as a secondary coach, he is excellent.
Roger Dorn - January 11, 2012
Cowboys fans are as big as if not bigger douchebag bandwagoners than steeler fans
HenryDawg - January 11, 2012
Yeah
Dumb logic on that guys part. Not all Cowboys fans are like that though man. I wish Dallas had half the secondary you guys have.
BrickTop - January 14, 2012 via mobile
Obvious mistake on Henderson’s part – he will now be whacked with Ryan when the Cowboys clean house. Jerry may be trying to make a splash with a Saban/Cowher type hire right as we speak. That guy has such an ego that when he isn’t in the playoffs he is still trying to upstage the teams that are in the playoffs.
realmccoy - January 11, 2012
If Saban leaves Bama I’d be really, really surprised. He wins there because he gets the best defensive players in the nation that fit what he wants to do. He can’t do that in the NFL.
rufio - January 12, 2012
He is a whore for the $$ though – but he has a Sweet situation in Bama. Prolly best college coach in awhile.
realmccoy - January 12, 2012
Not to troll
or anything like that here, but judging by the comments the Cowboys really made a great under the radar hire. I wanted to get some feedback on him as a coach, but I guess his short resume speaks for itself. Anyway, Goodluck in 2012 to your Browns.
BrickTop - January 14, 2012 via mobile
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