Chad Henne worst qualified red zone QB
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne (7) warms up before a game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The Jacksonville Jaguars are definitely going to move on from Blaine Gabbert and draft a quarterback next year (most likely Teddy Bridgewater, though it’s not a guarantee), but I’m sure Chad Henne will stick around as the team’s backup behind Bridgewater. He’s clearly not somebody you want starting, but there are indeed worse options out there. Still, Henne’s struggles as a QB can be demonstrated easily by his horrible play in the red zone this season, and it’s safe to say that he’s been the worst red zone quarterback this season.
With a QB Rating of 38.6, according to Pro Football Reference, in the red zone, Henne has the lowest such red zone total among all quarterbacks with at least 20 pass attempts. The funny thing is that Gabbert would have most likely been even worse for two reasons. Firstly, he’s worse than Henne overall. And secondly, Gabbert was 0-7 in the red zone when he was the starter.
Henne has completed just 32.7% of his passes in the red zone for just 110 yards, and he averages a horrendous 2.1 yards per attempt. Just as sad is his TD:INT ratio in this crucial juncture of the field, because Henne is just as likely to throw a drive-killing pick as he is tossing the TD (two interceptions and two touchdowns). Every single statistic on Henne’s red zone production is quite pathetic, and it’s quite incredible to see just how much worse Henne is in the red zone.
He’s not a good quarterback outside of the RZ, but at least his completion percentage is a respectable 62.2% rather than an unsightly 32.7%. Seriously, he doesn’t even complete one-third of his passes in the red zone, which is almost 7% lower than the next qualifier (Brandon Weeden).
By the way, Henne has a better overall QB Rating this season than Terrelle Pryor, Eli Manning, Geno Smith, and, of course, Weeden. But his red zone production is just sickeningly bad, and he has the 11th-most red zone pass attempts in the league, too.