Henne Won't Return



Miami Dolphins QB Chad Henne.

 The Miami Dolphins are making it official that they plan to let QB Chad Henne become a free agent once free agency begins March 13. Furthermore, the Dolphins don't plan on offering a contract to Henne, essentially ending his tenure with the Dolphins. With the acquisition of former Green Bay Packers' offensive coordinator Joe Philbin as head coach, this news only increases the speculation that the Dolphins will go after Packers' backup quarterback Matt Flynn.

Henne was 13-18 as a starter for the Dolphins. Henne started 13 games in the 2009 season after QB Chad Pennington suffered a season-ending injury yet again. Pennington led the Dolphins to an 11-5 record and an AFC East division title the year before, and then lost to the Baltimore Ravens at home in the AFC Wild Card round. After Henne suffered a season-ending injury this past season, QB Matt Moore led the Dolphins to a 6-6 record and played a lot better than Henne.

This ultimately convinced the Dolphins enough that they didn't have to give Henne another contract since he didn't appear to be their quarterback of the future. Since Moore did better, he is certainly an option at that position. However, Moore did the same thing with the Carolina Panthers during the 2009 season, when he took over for an injured QB Jake Delhomme and had a great ending to the season in which the Panthers were awful. The Panthers were 4-1 in the games Moore started after taking over for Delhomme.

Moore came into the 2010 season as the starting quarterback, but it appeared the magic he had during the end of the 2009 season disappeared. He started off poorly, even though he appeared to have a short leash. Rookie QB Jimmy Clausen took over and played poorly as well. Moore would start again after poor play from Clausen but was placed on injured reserve shortly after due to injuries.

So the Dolphins don't exactly know what they're going to get from Moore next season either. Flynn is certainly a good option, but he has only started two games in his career. However, those two starts were very impressive. In his first start, during the 2010 season against the AFC-leading New England Patriots on the road, he threw for over 300 yards and kept the Packers in it until the end. In his second start, he threw for a franchise record 480 yards and six touchdowns against the playoff-bound Detroit Lions.

QB Peyton Manning is certainly another option the Dolphins can toy with. His health has been the biggest question mark of the season, so that is a risky idea. Also, Manning will turn 36 next month, so he is not a long-term solution at all. The best move for the Dolphins will most likely be taking a chance on Flynn, or trading up in the draft to acquire a long-term quarterback. Whichever option they go, they all seem better than sticking with Henne.