Who is faster, Parsons or Hollywood Henderson?

[Point-of-the-Star]

Henderson ran a 4.4 40 6'2" 181 lbs

That's a misprint by Wiki.

As mentioned HH was 6,2", 220lbs, and ran a 4.3 40 time.

https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/201...ss-round-one-tony-dorsett-vs-thomas-henderson


I suspect Henderson would be killer strong safety. Parsons has a legit 25# on HH but all their other specs are very similar. Henderson was a helluca athlete, star performing football player and IMO wasted his career.

Bob Lily was 270 lbs and never did weight training while throwing opposing lineman around. He would be an early 1st rounder and have a strong career in todays game. He was double and even triple teamed every play. Bob Hays would still be a deep threat. Mel Renfro would still be a perennial All-Pro. The most change physically is the offensive linemen are bigger and more athletic and TE's are more athletic and more integral parts of team passing games.

 

[TheDude]

Who do you think ran a faster 40 time, Micah Parsons or Hollywood Henderson? There are different sources out there, but what is your best guess?

Before or after the hitting the eight ball?

 

[TheDude]

After hints that my mother dropped (which I wish she didn't) after she dated Hollywood...

He was very nice on the phone with me.

what finishing speed are we talking about?

 

[dreghorn2]

Freakin' Anita Pointer.

 

[JoeKing]

Do they not both have a timed 40 on record? What does the stopwatch say?

 

[KJJ]

 

[KJJ]

Henderson could have been a Hall of Fame player had he not been so full of drugs and himself.

 

[atlantacowboy]

The 9.5 100 claim is BS. He wasn't faster than Usain Bolt. lol

 

[Ranched]

 

[jaybird]

Hollywood was LT before LT came into the NFL.
Too bad Hollywood also blew his career.

Do not remember Hollywood sacking or pressuring the QB
Wasnt he prototypical off ball LB. LBs didnt edge rush as much back in the day. He was good but not LT good.

 

[PhillyCowboysFan]

Henderson could have been a Hall of Fame player had he not been so full of drugs and himself.

When you say HOF I’m not sure. He was just a special teams player for his first two years and he only made one pro bowl, so I’m not sure what you are basing that statement off unless it’s just from potential.

Look I grow up being a huge HH fan, but in reality when you look at his stats he really wasn’t all that good, or maybe I’m missing something. He had that one big year where he had the 3-int’s, but that was really it. He had a 6-sack year and his tackles aren’t even close to good. With that defensive line he played behind, a lot of players today would be very good and probably perennial pro bowl players. I guess I loved the flash and charisma.

So yes if you look at his potential I guess he could have been a HOF player, but if that’s the case there are hundreds of players that could have been. Again KJJ you could be right, I’m just not sold on it.

As Rick James famously said, cocaine is a mean drug.

 

[SSoup]

To be fair, if the nutritional and training advances available to players today were available back then, Hollywood Henderson would not have been a 220 pound linebacker - his size would more resemble what you see now.

If we're gonna play this game where you try to ascribe all the benefits of the modern day to Henderson, the truth is that there are also some ugly downsides that would've made it even harder for him to thrive.

First of all, his drug problem would've been a much bigger problem in the modern era of football. Constant drug testing. Not to mention he actually hid drugs in his uniform and did them on the field during actual games. That might've flown back in the day but today with HD video all over the place and an army of Twitter detectives, he'd get busted just like the baseball pitchers who routinely get busted by random Twitter people who spot their pine tar or whatever illegal stuff they try to hide on the mound. Also, his ugliest behavior problems arguably only started after his playing days when crack popped up. Crack didn't start popping up until the early '80s, so his childhood and his whole playing career had already come and gone by the time crack became a thing. But if he'd been born in 1999 like Parsons, he'd have spent his entire life in a world where crack existed from Day 1. It's unlikely he'd have been able to function well enough to thrive at the collegiate level or make it to the NFL in the first place if he had to live his life over again but this time crack doesn't wait to be invented until after he's already retired.

Second, the guy was a creep. Didn't he get busted for giving crack to teenage girls in exchange for sex? And one of the girls was handicapped in a wheelchair?

The NFL panics and throws the book at players who embarrass them badly enough. This is a dude who would've absolutely been busted doing drugs on the field in uniform during actual games, and who was dangling drugs to force handicapped teenagers to sleep with him. Yikes. He'd have been busted and banished before he made it out of his first preseason in the NFL today. Dude was a mess.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

Who's faster Pollard or Barry Sanders?

 

[jazzcat22]

I doubt Henderson could have been LT. LT was Henderson. But somehow LT was able to keep his drug problems from derailing him - at least on the field. Henderson was not.
Still, both being clean, I don't think Henderson would have been an LT. Henderson was more of a talker and a jokester. LT had a relentlessness Henderson didn't have, IMO. That, along with all-world football speed and incredible instinct, is what separates LT from Henderson.

Henderson had Tom Landry, and his all American beliefs. Therefore Hollywood was gone. LT had Parcells, that probably helped cover up the drug use.

 

[jazzcat22]

Do not remember Hollywood sacking or pressuring the QB
Wasnt he prototypical off ball LB. LBs didnt edge rush as much back in the day. He was good but not LT good.

Henderson never really got the chance to show what he could do. Nor was I saying he was LT good. But he was what I said LT before LT, as to the way each impacted the game at the times they played. Hollywood just did not get to show it. And yes they did not use the LB's to rush the QB's as much in his days. But that does not take away his impact or what could have been.

What really hurt him more that the drugs was when he was advertising or promoting something on the sidelines during a national televised game. This PO'ed Landry, and never seen much play after that. I think he was gone soon after.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HendTh00.htm

His career high was 6 sacks. 13.5 total.

 

[dreghorn2]

Henderson could have been a Hall of Fame player had he not been so full of drugs and himself.

Freakin' Anita Pointer.

 

[tyke1doe]

Henderson had Tom Landry, and his all American beliefs. Therefore Hollywood was gone. LT had Parcells, that probably helped cover up the drug use.

Probably.

 

[tyke1doe]

Thanks for those throw backs.

 

[KJJ]

Henderson never really got the chance to show what he could do. Nor was I saying he was LT good. But he was what I said LT before LT, as to the way each impacted the game at the times they played. Hollywood just did not get to show it. And yes they did not use the LB's to rush the QB's as much in his days. But that does not take away his impact or what could have been.

What really hurt him more that the drugs was when he was advertising or promoting something on the sidelines during a national televised game. This PO'ed Landry, and never seen much play after that. I think he was gone soon after.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HendTh00.htm

His career high was 6 sacks. 13.5 total.

I’m basing it off his overall ability and what he could have accomplished had he not been so busy doing drugs and promoting himself. You’re definitely missing something with him. He could have been Lawrence Taylor before Lawrence Taylor. Henderson admitted he was high during some games and he only played six seasons. He had 5 career INT’s and 13 1/2 career sacks while missing a number of games. He had 79 return yards off those 3 INT’s in 1977. He had a pick six in the NFC championship game vs the Rams. He helped dislodge the ball from Terry Bradshaw in the Super Bowl that Mike Hegman returned for a TD. He made some big plays in big games. He never got the most out of the ability he had because of the drugs and not being committed to being the best football player he could. Even Tom Landry said he could have been a lot better than he was if it wasn’t for the drugs and all of his antics. Landry cut him because he was smiling on the sidelines during a loss promoting some towels he was waving.

 

[KJJ]

Henderson almost returned another KO for a TD this one in the Super Bowl. Takes a minute before the sound comes on in the video.