Dec 22, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) scores a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in the fourth quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Patriots Veteran Seeing Offensive Growth

Originally posted on New England Patriots on SI
By Ethan Hurwitz | Last updated Aug 25, 2025 5:00 PM ET

Ahead of his fifth season with the New England Patriots, and 10th in the league, tight end Hunter Henry has seen a few things. He’s been on some of the lowest-performing teams in franchise history, but sees positive things out of this 2025 squad.

“I feel like we’re gelling at a good time,” Henry said following the team’s practice on Sunday. “Obviously we gotta do that on the game field, but we have a lot of practices ahead of us before that comes and hopefully we can execute well and get ready to go for Week 1.”

Henry — who’s been the Patriots’ best tight end since signing in free agency back in 2021 — has also been through hundreds of NFL practices. Despite the constant coaching changes in New England, the overall goal of summer practices remains the same.

This preseason, Henry repped on a couple of drives, but didn’t have a major body of work on August. In the Patriots’ 42-10 loss to the New York Giants last Thursday, Henry didn’t suit up. That doesn’t mean he took this summer off.

“The season’s getting closer, gonna fine out the details, the little things, technique,” Henry said. “Compete against each other, gotta get those reps of live competition against each other. These are huge man. Every practice we gotta take seriously and be ready to come to work.”

Joint practices are over and there’s now one week with no opponent on the immediate schedule. The Las Vegas Raiders loom on September 7, and this week specifically is for the Patriots to focus on their first matchup of the regular season.

Henry’s spot on the 53-man roster hasn’t been in jeopardy all summer, but backups Jack Westover, Gee Scott Jr. and CJ Dippre have been fighting to make the team. Those young players — along with Henry and second-string Austin Hooper — have to switch their mindset in practices.

“Obviously, we’re still going against our defense to still get those live reps, get those high competition reps, but you start to transition to looking at the opponents and studying a little bit more and being ready to go for the game,” Henry said.

This summer has been a reunion with Josh McDaniels, who was Henry’s offensive coordinator back in 2021. He made sure to tell reporters that while film study and work in the classroom is critical to success, trial by fire on the practice field is just as important.

“You start to come together, you start to see the offense come to life a little bit,” Henry said. “You can’t really teach off anything until you go out there and do it. So just getting out there and maybe making a mistake and fixing it and not making it again, it’s been huge for us.”

This article first appeared on New England Patriots on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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