Buffalo Bills trading for C.J. Henderson would be worth the gamble

According to reports, C.J. Henderson could be available via trade and if this is so the Buffalo Bills should try to work out a deal.

On Sunday night, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweeted that last year’s ninth overall pick, C.J. Henderson, is reportedly being made available in trade discussions by the Jacksonville Jaguars. On the surface, this would be surprising considering he was a Top 10 pick last year and is still considered a good prospect at the position.

However, the Jaguars have a new coaching staff led by Urban Meyer and did use a second round pick on Tyson Campbell from the University of Georgia. Henderson has yet to practice this offseason after shoulder surgery and being placed on COVID-19 Reserve list at the start of training camp.

Henderson was activated recently but Meyer may have seen enough from his current group at the position that could be driving these trade discussions.

Buffalo Bills need to make a call to Jacksonville for C.J. Henderson

This is where the Buffalo Bills come into play and why Brandon Beane should be calling Trent Baalke, the Jaguars GM, about a possible trade. While Henderson isn’t the ideal fit based on what the Bills look for in cornerbacks, which is players willing to support in the run and play well in zone coverage, he could bring versatility to this defense.

What Henderson does really well though is play man coverage and break up passes. This past season in eight games, the Jaguars cornerback had six pass breakups and one interception. In three seasons at the University of Florida, Henderson had six interceptions and 20 pass breakups.

If the Buffalo Bills had a secondary that included Tre’Davious White and C.J. Henderson, they could alternate between zone and man coverage schemes without really tipping their coverage. The Bills would likely force more turnovers and allow Henderson to be that second cornerback as he continues to learn and develop in the NFL.

The other major factor that should play into Brandon Beane’s decision is tied to a deal he made just a few days ago. Now that Josh Allen is going to be commanding a much higher salary, the Bills will need to get creative with the salary cap. If they have a chance to add a cornerback on a rookie contract for up to four more years, this would certainly help their cap situation in the coming years.

The biggest question the Buffalo Bills coaching staff will need to answer is if they feel comfortable with C.J. Henderson in run support. This was a weakness of Henderson’s coming out of college as Lance Zierlein notes in his scouting report: “Needs to tackle with better control downhill”.

If the Buffalo Bills can coach him up in this area, they could be adding a starting cornerback with great ball skills that would be on a rookie contract for the next few seasons. This would be a win all around for this defense.