Henry said he's ready to step up after learning that Antonio Gates won't be back with the Chargers, Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times reports.
The No. 35 pick from the 2016 draft, Henry was one of the most efficient tight ends in the league on a per-target basis while splitting snaps with Gates the past two seasons. The 23-year-old parlayed 117 targets into 81 catches for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns in 29 games, essentially posting a single-season Rob Gronkowski stat line over the course of two years. With Gates replaced by blocking specialist Virgil Green in the Chargers' tight end room, Henry figures to improve upon last year's marks of 42.7 snaps and 4.5 targets per game. The 37-year-old Gates averaged 31.3 snaps and 3.3 targets in 16 games last season, despite looking like his age had finally caught up to him. Henry would push for high-end TE1 status if he were to maintain his impressive efficiency while taking on a sizable chunk of Gates' old workload. Henry is fully recovered from the kidney laceration that ended his 2017 campaign after Week 15.