“The Commanders traded away Chase Young and Montez Sweat mid-season, and they are slated to lose both Casey Toohill and James Smith-Williams to free agency, leaving a once stellar edge group rather barren,” Macri wrote. “Henry — a fifth-round pick out of Clemson — will be one of the remaining names this offseason and while he didn’t get a ton of opportunity as a rookie, his final year at Clemson was encouraging, where he posted an 84.0 pass-rush grade, 53 pressures and five sacks. Henry could be called upon to play a much larger role in 2024 for the Commanders.”
This national outlet believes a pair of Clemson pros could be primed to make a big leap in their second NFL campaigns.
Pro Football Focus this week named a potential breakout candidate for each NFL team in the 2024 season, and among those players PFF sees as having a chance to break out next year are two former Tiger standouts — Baltimore Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson and Washington Commanders defensive end KJ Henry.
After being drafted by the Ravens in the third round (86th overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft, Simpson posted 13 tackles (10 solo), two tackles for loss, a sack, a quarterback hit and a fumble recovery across 15 games as a rookie during the 2023 regular season.
Simpson flashed his potential in Baltimore’s regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he got the chance to show what he can do with the Ravens sitting some starters after having already clinched the top seed in the AFC playoffs.
In that game, the 6-foot-2, 238-pounder posted two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit, as well as his first career sack.
“The Ravens are currently on pace to lose about 56% of their defensive linebacker snaps with both Patrick Queen and Malik Harrison slated to hit free agency, which should allow Simpson to earn more looks in 2024,” PFF’s Jonathon Macri wrote. “Simpson was a third-round pick out of Clemson this past year and only played 49 defensive snaps as a rookie. His most significant playing time came in Week 18, when he earned an impressive 80.3 PFF defensive grade and 78.0 PFF coverage grade, coming up with five tackles and a sack.”
As for Henry, he totaled 19 tackles (14 solo), four tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two quarterback hits and two passes defended over 10 games in his first NFL season after being selected by the Commanders in the fifth round (137th overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The 6-foot-4, 255-pounder caught on late in the year, as he didn’t register any stats until November but ended up being a key piece of Washington’s pass rush rotation. This came as a result of trading the starters as the Commanders cleared house, and now Henry can carve out a role for the future.
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