What anonymous scouts said about Chargers' Hunter Henry before the draft

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Bob McGinn runs an annual pre-draft series with comments on some of the top players at each position from anonymous scouts. It typically gets quite a bit of attention because of the scouts' honest, often blunt commentary and the quality of McGinn's research.

Let's take a look at what some of these scouts told McGinn about Chargers second-round pick TE Hunter Henry.

"Very soft hands," one scout said. "Good route runner. Gets open consistently. Really good size and can get bigger and stronger to play on the line of scrimmage. He may not be the athlete that Tyler Eifert is but a similar type receiver. High character kid."

You have to like the comparison to Eifert even if it comes with a qualifier. A guy like that is so  dangerous in the red zone and recent Chargers offenses haven't exactly been stellar inside the 20.

"At least he does it (block), and he does it pretty well," said a second scout. "You hit on him, he's going to be a good player. Heath Miller is a good comparison."

The prospect of having a tight end that contributes in both the passing and running game is exciting. Miller might not be the kind of player that gets a lot of hype, but he's a guy that doesn't tip what the offense is doing either way and that adds an element to the attack.

"He can be a big-timer," said a third scout. "He can catch the heck out of it. He runs good. He's not a point-of-attack guy but he'll give you enough (blocking) to be a pain in the (expletive). He's not like some guys that are strictly flex." Added a fourth scout: "He's not a dynamic, special-athlete, difference-maker like Jordan Reed or Tyler Eifert or Zach Ertz or Travis Kelce."

It sounds like Henry isn't going to ever be the kind of threat that Antonio Gates has been throughout his career, but honestly, you can't expect anyone to come in and replace the game of a future Hall of Famer. It's simply not reasonable. The hope has to be that Henry is a different enough player that he's a valuable complement to Gates this season and then that he gives you enough flexibility to offset the drop in overall quality once Gates retires.

I think you have to be encouraged that the anonymous scouts can't come up with anything negative to say about Henry other than he isn't a special athlete. These pieces are famous for just how harsh the criticism can be, and almost all of the commentary on was glowing.