Patriots Odds: Hunter Henry Player Props Untouched After Shoulder Injury
Henry's season-long props are still bettable at DraftKings
New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry will miss some time with a shoulder injury.
But that hasn't stopped one American sportsbook from taking bets on Hunter's season-long prop options. DraftKings Sportsbook is still rolling out the red carpet if you want to wager on Henry's regular season receiving yards or touchdown catches.
In fact, the numbers haven't changed one bit since news broke about the injury.
Henry's yardage prop is still O/U 560.5 with slight juice to the "Under," and his touchdown catch prop is set at O/U 4.5 with -115 juice each way. Ironically enough, Henry and fellow tight end Jonnu Smith have the exact same prop number for touchdown grabs (4.5).
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick didn't sound overly concerned about the tight end's injury when speaking to reporters Tuesday morning.
So in all likelihood, Henry should be ready to rock for New England's regular season opener against the Miami Dolphins on September 12 in Foxboro. That's what the betting odds tell you. A sportsbook wouldn't be taking bets on Henry if it thought the injury was all that serious.
"I would be surprised if he plays at all in the preseason," NESN Patriots beat reporter Zack Cox told me. "It sounds like there's a good chance he'll be back by Week 1, but I haven't heard the results of his MRI yet."
Naturally, I decided to press Cox for more intel from Pats training camp. Does incumbent quarterback Cam Newton throw more to Henry or Smith? And what about Mac Jones -- does the Alabama rookie have a security blanket up the middle yet?
"I haven't noticed Newton favoring one tight end over the other to this point," Cox explained. "In fact, over the eight competitive practices I tracked before Monday, the target share between Hunter and Smith was dead even, with each receiving 11 from Newton in 11-on-11 drills. I will say that Newton has had more success throwing to Smith, with his targets resulting in nine catches to Henry's five."
So Newton has been an equal opportunity employer when it comes to feeding his tight ends.
"Jones has connected more with Smith," Cox added. "He's 4-for-7 on throws to him in those same periods and 1-for-3 on targets to Henry."
Ten throws is such a miniscule sample size when it comes to assessing what an entire season of football will entail, yet the elephant in the room remains. Jones will likely take over the offense at some point this season and season-long tight end props will likely swing on whichever guy he develops a better rhythm with in his rookie campaign.
For now, DraftKings is penciling both guys in for about five touchdown grabs.
I would imagine Smith's touchdown catch number ticks up a bit as he continues to develop relationships with both quarterbacks over the next month of training camp.
