EXCLUSIVE: Patriots Tight End Hunter Henry Joins Zolak and Bertrand

Beasley Digital

On Monday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys were joined by Patriots Tight End, Hunter Henry. Henry discussed the excitement of getting back to real football following the team's first padded practice, along with the growth that the pass catcher has seen from second year quarterback, Drake Maye.

Transcript

00:00Oh, we're good to go downstairs with Hunter Henry, Patriots tight end, joining us.

00:05Hello, sir.

00:07Hey.

00:07Hey, there you go.

00:08Come on.

00:08I'm looking for you.

00:09Let's go.

00:09I'm waiting for you guys.

00:10I'm like, where are you?

00:11I'm waiting for you guys.

00:12Oh, okay.

00:13On your time.

00:13How was practice today?

00:15It was good, man.

00:16Turned the temperature up a little bit.

00:17Obviously threw the pads on.

00:19Got to play a little football finally.

00:21Good to see the big guys up front finally get to play a little ball, come off the rock.

00:24See the running backs get into action a little bit more.

00:27So it was good, man.

00:28Obviously, first day, there's going to be a lot of growth from this day to game one and even preseason game one.

00:35But it was a good start.

00:36You feel like, I mean, you are a veteran, but I'm talking about being a veteran here.

00:39It's another year here.

00:40Like, you're one of the few guys that have made the turn through three different coaches.

00:45When you first got here, and I know you were excited when Billy O'Brien took over the offense,

00:49how's it pretty much similar with Josh McDaniels, correct?

00:52Yes, yes.

00:53Very, very, you know, it's been great.

00:54Obviously, my one year with Josh, very successful year personally, but also we had a very successful year as an offense, too, overall.

01:03And so just looking to build upon that.

01:06Some of the stuff, obviously, there's some new stuff, too.

01:08There's a lot of new guys, obviously, a lot of turnover from my first year here to now.

01:13But, you know, we're coming together, just trying to stack days and continue to get better so we can get ready to roll.

01:19Yeah, I'm just thinking about that now.

01:20Who are the longest tenured players on this team?

01:23I know.

01:23You're up there.

01:24I am up there.

01:24I am up there, especially in the league-wise now, for sure.

01:28It's kind of weird.

01:29Do you get treated differently?

01:30Does Braves come to you and talk to you a little differently than the other guys?

01:34No, I don't get treated too differently.

01:35But, I mean, obviously, I have experience.

01:38I've seen a lot of things in this league, man.

01:39I've seen a lot of defenses and played a lot of different things.

01:43So, you know, all the guys know they can come to me and ask me things.

01:46I try to, you know, give my feedback on things, too.

01:49You know, I want to give space for the coaches to coach.

01:51I mean, that's what they're here for.

01:52But, obviously, I see the game sometimes a little differently, maybe just because I'm playing it and how I would do things.

01:58So, just I want to be an open door as much as I can as the coaches are and help these guys be successful.

02:03Do you miss David Andrews?

02:04He's going to be working with us once a week now.

02:06I don't know if you know he's made the transfer to the bad guys over here.

02:09That's what he told me.

02:09Yeah, but you miss having him out there?

02:11I know he's tight with you.

02:12I do, man.

02:13You know, I'm happy for him as well at the same time on the other side of it.

02:16But, you know, I definitely miss him as a guy that I got really close to.

02:20Just our families got close.

02:22Obviously, that doesn't end with football, but I miss him on the field for sure.

02:26I mean, the guy that was just a tremendous patriot, a salute to him.

02:30Obviously, he had so much success in this league and so much success here.

02:33And just a guy in the community that we could, you know, just look to as a leader, as a man.

02:39You know, our kids are the same age, so we grew really close over the last few years.

02:43And definitely will miss him on the field.

02:46Still, I'm going to have to hop on and talk to you guys, hopefully, maybe when he hops on.

02:50Oh, he'll have plenty to say.

02:52He's already been texting.

02:54He can't wait to get in here.

02:55He's got things to say.

02:57I love it.

02:57Yes, he's told us.

02:59Are you thinking that this year could be a tremendous opportunity for you personally,

03:05given that Josh is back and the kind of production that the tight end in this offense historically can have?

03:13Yeah, I mean, obviously, I try to have a good year every year, no matter what's going on.

03:17But obviously, my history with Josh and then the history of this offense with the tight end position is huge.

03:22But I think the thing with the tight end position that I love so much is how much we do in this offense.

03:28You know, there's obviously the big plays that you can have, but also just the grimy plays of, you know,

03:34pass protection or, you know, getting in there in the run game and helping things out just to blend everything together

03:38and be so multiple.

03:40So there's a lot demanded upon this position and this offense, and hopefully I can feel that on a weekend basis.

03:45A lot of new faces in that front seven that you go up against every day.

03:49How's that defense look for you so far?

03:51They've been good so far, man.

03:52Yeah, it's a tall task.

03:54That's what you want, man.

03:55Iron sharpened iron when you get out here.

03:57I mean, you want to go against the best, you know, because every Sunday that's what you're going to go against no matter what.

04:02But, you know, it's been great.

04:04You want the back and forth and you want to compete.

04:08This is what makes us better, and this is going to make us a better team.

04:11What do you get for lunch?

04:12How's the food?

04:13Food's great, man.

04:14Food's great.

04:14Ted Harper's got them cooking it up in there, man.

04:17It's good, man.

04:17You know, eating good, trying to keep some weight on at camp.

04:20You know how it goes, especially the big boys up front.

04:23We start, at least me, I'm running, blocking, doing everything.

04:26I'm losing a lot of weight, so I try to keep it on.

04:28Drink some beer, man.

04:29I love some beer.

04:30I love some beer.

04:31Zoe's like, you're trying to lose weight when you can't start.

04:34We used to go to a school, and they had a bar outside, and they had gold tea there.

04:38Gold tea first came out.

04:39That's old school right there.

04:40Pitchers of beer.

04:41Pitchers of beer.

04:42Zoe said they used to.

04:43They used to schedule weigh-ins after they knew we were out.

04:45You smoking cigs at halftime, too?

04:47Exactly.

04:49Put a dip in.

04:51A little Diet Coke at halftime.

04:52Oh, God.

04:53Zoe told the story the other day that they would leave practice.

04:56They would hit the bar quick to have a few beers before they went back for meetings.

05:00They would go drinking.

05:01If you had an off day the next day, it wouldn't be the worst idea, but day-to-day basis, and

05:06especially as I've gotten older, you've got to take care of the body.

05:10I was back with two days, too.

05:11We had real two-a-days.

05:12Yeah, that's true.

05:13Yeah, we've got to love days now.

05:15We don't have two-a-days like we used to.

05:16Hey, with all the turnover on the roster, have you seen any of the younger players kind

05:20of take on more of a leadership role so far?

05:23I mean, obviously, you can see that with Drake stepping into a role.

05:26I mean, as a rookie, it can be a lot stepping into the leadership role as well.

05:30As playing and doing all that, just trying to earn respect from guys.

05:33But obviously, he has a lot of respect from everybody now and just stepping up in a leadership

05:37role.

05:38I mean, it's kind of given as a quarterback.

05:40You have the ball in your hand every play.

05:42But he's done a tremendous job of just stepping up in that aspect.

05:46I know you probably hesitate to admit it, but are there plays with Drake where he impresses

05:50you and you just say, damn, there's not a ton of guys who physically can make some

05:54of the plays he sometimes pulls off?

05:57Yeah, I'm not trying to pump his head up too much.

05:59I know.

05:59But there's a couple last year.

06:00There's a few, though, isn't there?

06:02Yeah.

06:02Yeah, he's definitely a tremendous player, man.

06:06And I get excited.

06:08Let's just say I get excited to come in and work with him.

06:10So, if that says anything, that's how I'll put it.

06:15He gets me excited to go out there and work with him and continue to strive for success

06:22and strive for what he wants and how he sees things because he's got a tremendous amount

06:26of talent.

06:27He doesn't talk crap like Phillip Rivers does, does he?

06:29He's got a little in there.

06:30He's not at Phil's level yet, of course.

06:33I mean, Phil was probably doing that as a young guy.

06:35But, you know, he's got to earn some cred maybe a little bit more, and then I bet that

06:40will start to flow a little bit.

06:41But he's got that down in there.

06:42He's got a little of that Phillip Rivers in him, a little bit, a little bit.

06:46I've said about him, I think I said it just a short time ago, he's a little more competitive

06:50and confident that people want to give him credit for.

06:52People just think, oh, he's this nice, humble guy.

06:55He's got, you know, like he's got no ego.

06:56I'm like, oh, no, it's in there.

06:58Come on, man.

06:59You don't make it to this level without a deep level of competitiveness, man.

07:03We're all trying to be great.

07:04We're trying to, you know, be the best, and he's got that in him for sure.

07:07I mean, next time you guys have Vaughn, just ask him about ping pong, man.

07:11I've just been whipping his butt in some ping pong when we get a break there and there.

07:15So I'm probably the best ping pong player on our team, maybe in the NFL.

07:18That's a bold statement.

07:20But I'm definitely better than Drake, so maybe bring that up to him when you get a chance.

07:25We stalked him at the Super Bowl because we had a one-on-one with him, and he ended up

07:29beating Drew Brees, Michael Parsons.

07:31Yeah, I saw a clip of that.

07:33It looked terrible.

07:34It was not.

07:34We were there.

07:35They were bad.

07:36Hunter, we watched the entire thing, and the entire time I was saying to these guys, I'm

07:39like, I'm just terrible.

07:39You know, I've played ping pong enough in my life where I was like, these guys suck.

07:43And I'm like, bring it up to him, man.

07:45Keep him humble, man.

07:46I've got to keep him humble on that ping pong table.

07:47First production meeting.

07:48Good.

07:48I got it.

07:48He needs to improve, so I'm not surprised that you kicked his ass.

07:51Yeah, baby.

07:52Hunter, great to talk to you.

07:53Thanks for sticking around.

07:54I know it's hot down there.

07:55Appreciate it.

07:55Yeah.

07:55No problem.

07:56All right, Hunter Henry, joining us from the field after practice here at Gillette Stadium.

08:01He gets it.

08:02That guy gets it.

08:03I love that guy.

08:04I love that player.

08:06I will chest bump anytime over Hunter Henry, man.

08:09I would do that.

08:09Like, the day he got here.

08:10Yep.

08:10That guy gets it.

08:19Yeah.

08:31Why?

08:32Why?

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