I see some of you on Herndon’s back again. Also saw where somebody said he lost us 3 games which is not the case. How about let’s talk about how many games he ‘helped’ is win.

And for the money we are paying him, he might be tops in the league for playing time vs pay. He’s no different than when Troy Brown had to step in and play defense for the Patriots. What coaches want is a guy they can put out there on the field and can be trustworthy and do their job. These type of players ain’t game wreckers or playmakers etc.

Herndon, who nobody thinks is Deion Sanders, offers experience and a guy that can step in and play when a starter goes down. Players like Herndon that aren’t physically gifted as others stick around the league for years because they don’t miss team meetings, they attend all the workouts, they sign every autograph, they have no off the field issues, then get along with everybody in the building, they study film, they practice hard everyday, they show up early and leave late, they don’t go out and party, they ain’t on social media talking crap, and when a coach asks them to step into a role they simply says yes sir.

If you know what you’re watching for, you can tell by how Herndon plays that he is one of those players. I’ve seen him playing on the outside and instead of going for a risky tackle with the option for the RB to cut it back, Herndon will stay engaged with the blocking WR and turn his back to the sideline and step up field in order to force the RB back into the teeth of the defense.

A stat padder or someone looking to get noticed on film for a good tackle would put their self before the team and go for that tackle. A good, solid football player will do what Herndon did in that scenario.

Herndon’s roles have went from rookie, to a special teams player, to a backup, to a starter, back to a backup and you never hear a peep. He will now be going into his 6th season (all with the Jaguars). When he was a starter in 2019 and 2020 while playing close to 1,000 snaps both seasons, he still contributed on special teams with 63 and 44 snaps on special teams.

Last season he gave the team 41% of the snaps on defense.

Herndon went from playing 1000 snaps 2 seasons in a row, to playing 32% of the snaps on special teams.

2019 he led the team with 3 interceptions with 13 PD
2020 3rd most solo tackles on team
2022 he forced a critical fumble
2022 he recovered a critical fumble
-5 solo tackles in the playoffs

2022 was one of those seasons where it seemed like every turnover the defense got was absolutely needed because the Jaguars couldn’t not afford to waste any opportunities. Our backs were against the wall the entire season and you can pick out a few plays where Herndon helped the team win the ball game.

His contract is a grain of sand vs his production. If you look all throughout the league, teams have these types of players on their roster every year.

This is probably an odd analogy but when Lebron went from Miami to Cleveland you always saw James Jones on his team. He would give them low minutes with about 3 or 4 points per game. He was a backup player that would step in as a starter when needed.

These types of players are always needed since you can’t have All Pro’s and hall of famers at every position including backups.

---