{"id":4255,"date":"2024-09-26T02:49:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T02:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=4255"},"modified":"2024-09-26T02:49:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T02:49:57","slug":"breaking-steelers-sign-rivals-former-top-10-draft-pick-to-practice-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=4255","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Steelers Sign Rival\u2019s Former Top 10 Draft Pick to Practice Squad.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-1272612079.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-1272612079.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-1272612079.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-1272612079.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"C.J. Henderson\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"172\" data-img-load-time=\"403\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span>The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on September 25 that they signed former top 10 cornerback C.J. Henderson to their practice squad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>\u00a0are adding more quality depth to their practice squad.\u00a0The team announced\u00a0on September 25 that they have signed cornerback\u00a0CJ Henderson.<\/p>\n<p>NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero reported the addition at the same time as the Steelers announced the signing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Steelers signed former first-round pick CB C.J. Henderson to the practice squad,\u201d\u00a0wrote Pelissero.<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh\u2019s old AFC Central rival, the\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars, drafted Henderson at No. 9 overall in\u00a0the 2020 NFL draft.\u00a0He played\u00a010 games for the Jaguars before Jacksonville traded him to the\u00a0Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson played 39 games, starting 22 of them, for the Panthers from 2021-23. He spent 2024 training camp with the\u00a0Houston Texans, but the Texans released him on roster cutdown day.<\/p>\n<p>In 49 NFL games,\u00a0Henderson has posted\u00a0172 combined tackles, including 6 tackles for loss, 16 pass defenses and 3 interceptions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Steelers Add CB Depth With CJ Henderson on Practice Squad<\/h2>\n<p>Although Henderson became one of the biggest busts of the 2020 draft class, his addition to the Steelers practice squad is still likely to raise eyebrows. The Steelers managed to add a formerly highly-coveted cornerback to their organization for no cost.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the 2020 draft,\u00a0NFL.com\u2019s Lance Zierlein compared Henderson to former second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl cornerback Carlos Rodgers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSilky smooth boundary cornerback with mirror-and-match footwork and the agility and athleticism to stay connected to routes. He has NFL recovery burst and the long speed to track vertical routes downfield,\u201d\u00a0wrote Zierlein. \u201cHe has the twitchy acceleration to jump a throw and take it away if the quarterback lingers on the target, and he\u2019s quick to wrap and finish after the catch. He makes mental mistakes from time to time and occasionally loses awareness from zone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s willing and capable in run support but needs better control as an open-field tackler. Henderson is a fluid cornerback with ball skills and burst and has CB1 ability as a first-rounder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Henderson started his professional career strongly\u00a0with an interception\u00a0and 3 pass defenses in his NFL debut. But that was, by far, his best performance as a rookie. After eight games, he ended the season on injured reserve with a groin issue.<\/p>\n<p>That offseason, Jacksonville changed general managers and head coaches. After just three games in his second season,\u00a0the Jaguars traded Henderson with a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Panthers for tight end Dan Arnold and a 2022 third-rounder.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson started at least half of his games each season with the Panthers. But he never came close to reaching his pre-draft potential.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>How CJ Henderson Fits With the Steelers<\/h2>\n<p>Henderson will join\u00a0Anthony Averett,\u00a0Thomas Graham Jr.,\u00a0D\u2019Shawn Jamison\u00a0and\u00a0Ayo Oyelola\u00a0as defensive backs on Pittsburgh\u2019s practice squad.\u00a0The Steelers have\u00a0Henderson and Averett listed specifically as cornerbacks.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers needed to add depth in their secondary\u00a0after placing\u00a0second-year cornerback\u00a0Cory Trice Jr.\u00a0on injured reserve. He suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3 against the\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers.<\/p>\n<p>Even without Trice for at least the next four games, the Steelers still have five cornerbacks on their active roster. But Henderson is a potential practice squad elevation candidate for game days at least until the team gets back suspended cornerback\u00a0Cameron Sutton\u00a0in Week 9.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers signed\u00a0veteran cornerback\u00a0James Pierre\u00a0to their practice squad last week.\u00a0The team elevated him\u00a0for Week 3 and then\u00a0signed him to the active roster on September 23.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike Pierre, Henderson isn\u2019t versatile, which is usually a trait the Steelers prefer with their practice squad elevations.\u00a0Henderson played\u00a0just 55 special teams snaps last season, and he\u2019s primarily been an outside cornerback in his NFL career.<\/p>\n<p>In fact,\u00a0according to Pro Football Focus, Henderson didn\u2019t play in the slot at all in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>But if the Steelers do elevate Henderson in Week 4 or any future week, they could use Pierre in multiple positions and have Henderson as insurance at outside cornerback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GettyThe Pittsburgh Steelers announced on September 25 that they signed former top 10 cornerback C.J. Henderson to their practice squad. The\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0are adding more quality depth to&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Steelers Sign Rival\u2019s Former Top 10 Draft Pick to Practice Squad.. - Sport News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=4255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Steelers Sign Rival\u2019s Former Top 10 Draft Pick to Practice Squad.. - Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GettyThe Pittsburgh Steelers announced on September 25 that they signed former top 10 cornerback C.J. 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