Team, TE Henry agree to terms on three-year, $27M extension
The Patriots have brought back their starting tight end.
Tight end Hunter Henry agreed to terms on a new three-year contract with the Patriots, sources confirmed to the Herald.
The deal is worth $27 million with a max value of $30 million with $16 million fully guaranteed, per sources.
Henry’s $9 million average per year makes him the 13th highest paid tight end in the NFL. The Texans recently re-signed impending free-agent tight end Dalton Schultz on a three-year, $36 million deal.
Henry, a Patriots captain in 2023, was set to enter free agency as the top available tight end before the Patriots locked him up with a three-year extension.
The Patriots signed Henry, 29, to a three-year contract as a free agent in 2021 for $12.5 million per year. He’s caught 133 passes for 1,531 yards with 17 touchdowns in 48 games over three seasons. He missed three games in 2023 but caught 42 passes on 61 targets for 419 yards with six touchdowns while playing with quarterbacks Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe.
Prior to bringing Henry back, the Patriots only had La’michael Pettway on their roster at tight end. Mike Gesicki and Pharaoh Brown are also free agents at the position.
The Patriots have been busy this week before free agency kicks off Monday with the open tampering period under new head coach Jerod Mayo and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf. They signed offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor and re-signed cornerback Alex Austin and offensive tackle Tyrone Wheatley Jr. on Thursday. They also placed the transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger earlier this week.
Henry was originally selected by the Chargers in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Arkansas. He missed the entire 2018 season with a torn ACL and has 329 career receptions for 3,853 yards with 38 touchdowns in his career.
Henry finished the 2023 season as PFF’S 15th-highest-graded tight end with a 69.3 mark. His 72.2 receiving grade ranked 14th.
PFF ranked Henry second among free-agent tight ends behind Schultz and ahead of Noah Fant, Gerald Everett and Colby Parkinson.
With Henry and Pettway now under contract, the Patriots will still need two or three more tight ends to fill out their 90-man roster. Signing Henry takes pressure off of the team to find a new top player at the position, however.