Anyone who follows the Washington Commanders knows that adding an Edge rusher was a priority in the 2023 NFL draft. While no one expected the Commanders to add a pass rusher in the first round, anything was possible from the second round and later.
After all, Washington’s starting defensive ends, Chase Young and Montez Sweat, are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2024. Additionally, reserve defensive ends James Smith-Williams, Efe Obada and Casey Toohill will all be free agents after the upcoming season.
So, in the fifth round, the Commanders made their first trade of the draft, moving up 13 spots in the fifth round to select Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry at No. 137 overall.
Henry played a lot at Clemson but was a rotational player in the early part of his college career due to Clemson’s outstanding defensive line depth. As a senior, he became a full-time starter and had his best season.
The 6-foot-4, 251-pound Henry ran the 40-yard dash in 4.61 seconds at the NFL combine and also recorded a time of 1.65 seconds in the 10-yard split.
Here’s Lance Zierlein of NFL.com’s scouting report on Henry:
Highly athletic edge defender with good size. Henry has upfield burst, but he tends to be a face-up rusher and will need to improve his hand usage for more effective corner turns. He can be dynamic when twisting and blitzing as a moveable piece around the defensive front and he does a nice job of setting up a buttery smooth inside rush that is often too quick for tackles. He can dart and disrupt as a one-gapper with his hand in the ground but has more trouble than expected in setting firm edges as a run defender. Henry’s strengths and weaknesses are well-defined, with the upside to become a starter.
