Devery Henderson's 2006 stats tell the story of a young receiver finding himself on the football field and portend great things in the future. His 32 catches may not seem impressive, but his 745 yards, 23.3 yard per catch average and 5 touchdowns are staggeringly productive totals. Entering this season, 1,000 yards were not out of the question, nor was the expectation that Devery could be the best deep-threat in the game far-fetched.
So to see Devery sitting on 11 catches for 206 yards and a touchdown is disappointing. Certainly drops have played a factor in Devery's struggles -- both because they subtracted meaningful touches from his totals and because they caused his coaches and teammates to lose confidence in him. But were we expecting too much from Devery? Was the optimism surrounding him based on too small a sample size?
Of Devery's 32 catches in 2006, 16 came in November (however, he essentially missed weeks 3-7). Of his 745 yards, 438 came in November; of his 5 touchdowns, 3 came in November. Most of Devery Henderson's great numbers happened in one month.
Of course injury factors in this. As does the presence of Joe Horn -- when Horn was in the lineup, Henderson was never asked to be anything more than the third receiver.
But is it possible that our expectations of Devery were inflated by his monstrous month?