FOXBORO — During Mike Vrabel’s six seasons as head coach in Tennessee, one of his most accomplished players was Kevin Byard, the two-time All-Pro safety.
Though they play different positions on different sides of the ball, Vrabel sees a lot of Byard in one of the Patriots veterans he now coaches: tight end Hunter Henry.
“(Henry is) a very comfortable player,” Vrabel said before Monday’s training camp practice. “Very similar to Kevin Byard. And you know I’m not big on comparisons, just talking about personalities. Kevin was really confident and comfortable. He never looked stressed. You would look and see some younger players maybe at the same position and they’d be sweating before the play would start. They were making checks and everything else and running. And Kevin just always had a very calm, confident demeanor and was an excellent player for us.
“I feel the same about Hunter. I think that he’s, anything that you ask him to do, it comes very easy and he’s very instinctive and he’s got a good feel for the game. So, those are all positives, and I think that leads to his consistency.”
Henry said he appreciated that praise from his head coach.
“It means a lot that he would say that,” he said. “I try to bring that every single day. I try to be the same guy in the building, out here, at home with my wife and kids. … It’s an honor for him to say that, but it’s all the people around me, and definitely my faith.”
Henry is coming off the best statistical season of his career, setting personal bests in catches (66; tied for most of the team) and receiving yards (team-high 674). The 30-year-old was a reliable target for quarterback Drake Maye — as he was for Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe in previous years — and a team captain. But the Patriots went 4-13 and fielded a below-average offense, just as they did in 2023.
Those struggles, Henry said, helped him become the unflappable player that Vrabel described.
“I actually think I’ve grown more in the last two years than I have in the last, probably, 28 years of my life, to be honest,” Henry said.
As both a trusted weapon for Maye and one of the few current Patriots with experience playing under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (with whom he overlapped in 2021), Henry again will play a key role in New England’s passing game this season.
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