Hunter Henry is in a contract year no longer.
The veteran tight end signed a two-year contract extension, the team announced on social media.
According to Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter, the deal is worth between $16 million and $20 million, with $14.5 million guaranteed.
“It means a lot, man. This place, it means a lot to me and my wife. Just the organization as a whole, man, the Kraft family has taken me in and been so good to me and my family, given me a chance really in the middle of my career to come over here and we just appreciated the whole time. We really have,” Henry said after Monday’s practice. “We’ve enjoyed the area and have enjoyed this fanbase, man. … It’s just a blessing. It really is.
“I’m excited — excited to be a part of this team,” Henry continued. “I feel like we have a really good football team, too, and excited to kind of be a piece of that.”
The 31-year-old Henry has been extremely reliable since joining the Patriots in their 2021 free-agent spree. He’s played in 81 of a possible 85 regular-season games and all five postseason games.
He’s averaged 52 receptions for 594 yards and five touchdowns per season, accumulating 259 receptions in total. Henry ranks fourth in Patriots history for receiving yards and touchdowns for a tight end, behind Rob Gronkowski, Ben Coates and Russ Francis.
Having played five years with the Chargers prior to joining the Patriots, Henry has career totals of 455 receptions for 5,295 yards and 47 touchdowns.
“I love being around Hunter. I mean, we talked about his consistency, his production,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said earlier this summer. “The more that I can be around Hunter Henry, the better, because he’s been a great football player. He’s a great leader for us, a very consistent player.”
Henry had been entering the final year of his deal, which he signed prior to the start of free agency in 2024. He’s remained the top tight end on the depth chart for his entire time in New England, and though the team did draft Eli Raridon out of Notre Dame in the third round of the draft this year, the Henry extension gives the Patriots some time to try to fill out the depth chart for the future while still getting solid contributions from Henry.
