Daiyan Henley, the Los Angeles Chargers linebacker, didn’t have it easy as an NFL rookie in the 2023 NFL season. A completely torn labrum in his left shoulder obliterated what was once an electrifying game. After what he said was the worst game of his career vs. the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7, Henley’s focus now is on recovery. He’s particularly excited to see beyond that to his goals for the 2024 season.
In the Week 7 matchup, James Conner rushed for 101 yards on 19 carries against the Chargers, contributing to a disappointing defensive performance. Inexplicably, the Chargers missed an even more staggering 16 tackles for the game. Henley admitted that he had been the cause of most of those unrealized chances himself. Following the competition, he joined forces with the Chargers’ medical team. Together, they figured out how to rig his shoulder contraption so as to go easy on the athlete’s lingering injury.
Henley’s woes started back in Week 4 when he tore his labrum on a land down while making a tackle vs the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead of getting surgery right away, surgery that would have cost him his entire season, he decided to tough it out and keep playing. He used a shoulder harness in addition to the other arm brace to keep himself safe through the rest of the games.
Even with these physical limitations, Henley was one of the most active players in the game. From Weeks 8 to 16, he played at least 60 snaps in all but one game. Over the Chargers’ final five contests, he cemented his role as a confident, playmaking leader on Filippo’s defense. His incredible effort as he played through injury can’t go without a salute. Concurrently, he focused and put in the effort to develop himself as an overall player.
I can honestly say I don’t feel ashamed,” Henley said when looking back on his season. He expressed a sense of accomplishment despite the setbacks, noting, “I feel much better about my football life and my football journey. I did so much, and I’m genuinely proud of my story. On both these counts, I still find myself deeply conscious that I’m not all the way there yet.
There was tremendous risk in Henley’s decision to play through pain. He showed that the way his shoulder apparatus was rigged, there were a lot of ways it could dislocate. “They said I am at a much higher chance of dislocating my shoulder with the adjustments that I made, but at that point, I was like, ‘Bro, I’ll take the risk,’” he shared.
The linebacker attributes his play after the Arizona game as a watershed moment in his season. “And if you look at my gameplay after Arizona, I went on a run,” Henley remarked. His ability to grow throughout the game and improve his play when it matters most has quickly impressed his new teammates. Jaylon Minter praised him as “a great calming force and leader in the middle of the defense.”
Henley’s path to the NFL hasn’t necessarily been a straight-shot one. He’s a product of Los Angeles, just down the road from SoFi Stadium. As a star athlete at Crenshaw High School, he honed hopes of breaking into the NFL. Selected in the 2023 NFL Draft’s third round as the 85th pick overall, Henley landed on his hometown team. He was obviously excited to put his stamp on the field.
Looking back on his experiences from this season, he reiterated that he never wanted to only be a special teams player. “That wasn’t my end-all-be-all goal to be a special teamer,” he explained. “So that was where my embarrassment was, but it was my interior motivation.”
And as he moves forward, Henley is hopeful that he’ll be back better than ever. After the season, he had surgery to repair his labrum. Still, he remains optimistic that he’ll return to full strength ahead of training camp in 2024.
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