Devery Vaughn Henderson Jr. (born March 26, 1982) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for nine seasons with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). The Louisiana-born Henderson played for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

, who won the 2004 BCS National Championship Game for the

2003 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in the claim of a split national championship. This was the first claimed split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to elim ...

. A few months later, the Saints selected Henderson in the second round of the

2004 NFL draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held from April 24–25, 2004, at the Theate ...

. Henderson was part of the Saints' 2009 team that won

Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...

against the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

Early life

Henderson grew up in

Opelousas, Louisiana Opelousas (; ) is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 in Louisiana, Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 in Louisiana, U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a ju ...

, and attended Opelousas High School where he was a star for their highly rated track team. He attended LSU on a track and football scholarship.

College career

The highlight of his career at LSU came on November 9, 2002. Henderson caught the famed "

Bluegrass Miracle The Bluegrass Miracle was a 74-yard game-winning touchdown pass by the No. 16 LSU Tigers with no time left on the clock against the Kentucky Wildcats on November 9, 2002, at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. The ball was tipped by a Ke ...

" deep pass from

Marcus Randall Marcus Keith Randall (born March 14, 1982) is an American former professional football player. Randall played quarterback for LSU, Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). College career Randall came to LSU ...

to help defeat the

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Wildcats, 33–30. This play was also especially noteworthy as the Kentucky coach Guy Morriss had already received the famed "Gatorade shower" prior to the touchdown. The "Bluegrass Miracle" also won an

ESPY The ESPY Awards (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, and often referred to as the ESPYs) is an annual American awards show produced by ESPN since 1993, recognizing individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-r ...

award the following year for "Best Play." Henderson accepted the award on behalf of the

. In 2002, Henderson recorded 23 catches for 447 yards with 8 touchdowns, carving out a role as a deep threat. Henderson was part of LSU's 2003 BCS National Championship team during his senior season. That year, he was named on the All-SEC Second-team after racking up 11 touchdowns and 861 yards on 53 receptions. Henderson was also a track star at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, where he was member of LSU's national champion track, member of LSU's NCAA-qualifying

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

team and also a member of LSU's 2001 National Champion Indoor Track and Field team. In his sophomore season, he ran the second-fastest 60-meter time in school history, with a time of 6.72 seconds.

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

Henderson was drafted by the

in the second round with the 50th pick of the

. Henderson benefited from the regime change in New Orleans after his rookie year, as the 2006 season saw Aaron Brooks give way to

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is sec ...

at quarterback and

Sean Payton Patrick Sean Payton (born December 29, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Previously, he served as the head coach of the Ne ...

replace

Jim Haslett James Donald Haslett (born December 9, 1955) is an American football coach and former linebacker who was most recently the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being dra ...

as head coach. His statistics improved over those of his rookie season — most notably in receptions (22 vs. 32), total yards (343 vs. 745), yards per catch (15.6 vs. 23.3), longest catch (66 vs. 76), and touchdowns (3 vs. 5). On November 5, 2006, Devery had his best day as a professional in a game against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

, catching 3 passes for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns. Henderson had 158 receiving yards on 5 catches, including a 76-yard touchdown, against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

on November 26, 2006. On December 10, 2006, Henderson caught two passes from

for 92 yards and one touchdown, as the Saints defeated the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

42–17 on ''

NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, w ...

''. On March 2, 2009, Henderson re-signed with the Saints. The Saints went to the Super Bowl that year and Henderson had 7 catches for 63 yards en route to the Saints defeating the

. On September 18, 2011, Henderson had a touchdown catch for 79 yards. On October 8, 2012, he caught a touchdown pass from Drew Brees to break

Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Nicknamed "J ...

's record of 47 straight games with a touchdown pass in the Saints' 31–24 win over the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

. As of week 17 of the

2012 NFL season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowbo ...

, Henderson averaged nearly 18 yards per catch (17.9625), which was the highest among all active receivers for yards per catch with 200+ catches. After the Saints' 2012 season, Henderson became a free agent. As of 2019 he is still the #6 All-Time career Receiving Yards Leader in Saints Franchise History with 4,377 yards.

Washington Redskins

Henderson signed with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

on June 12, 2013. He was released by the team on August 14, 2013.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Devery 1982 births Living people Players of American football from Lafayette, Louisiana American football wide receivers LSU Tigers football players New Orleans Saints players Washington Redskins players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen