Washington Commanders select KJ Henry in fifth round of 2023 NFL Draft

He’s not Myles Murphy of Bryan Bresee, but former Clemson EDGE KJ Henry has plenty of athletic tools and traits to be a successful NFL pass rusher. And the Washington Commanders are betting Henry can be just that for them, taking him with the No. 137 overall pick, in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

A five-year player at Clemson, Henry played in 48 career games. He’s steadily improved his counting stats as he went through the years. From 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in his second season in 2019 — his first season of significant playing time — to nine tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks as a senior, Henry was a force to be reckoned with off the edge.

Henry never had a game in college with more than 2.5 tackles for loss or a multi-sack game, but stacked steady production as an accessory pass rushing option.

The talent has never been an issue for Henry, who was a five-star prospect out of West Forsyth (S.C.) High School in the 2018 class according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the No. 10 overall prospect in the class and top player from his home state. Henry was the No. 2 EDGE in the class behind Eyabi Okie.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Henry

While he sees the pass rush upside all over the place, NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein sees some run defense issues for Henry. He’s also raw as a pass rusher and needs to develop more moves and work with his hands more.

“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,” Zierlein said. “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.”

There are a lot of things that Henry already does well, according to Zierlein. His physical attributes and tools like pursuit, ankle bend, quickness off the ball and ability to stay low to the ground while rushing are all to his benefit. As are some of his finer points of technique, namely reading the quarterback to bat down passes and coming inside for rushes.

But the technique is also where Zierlein sees the most need and room for improvement. Be it not getting squared up as a run defender or better hand use when engaging tackles, polishing and improving his technique could unlock another level for Henry.