Devery Vaughn Henderson Jr. (born March 26, 1982) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who spent 9 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 league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The Louisiana-born Henderson played for

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

(LSU) where he and the Tigers won the 2004 BCS National Championship Game for the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. A few months later, the New Orleans Saints selected Henderson in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. 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) champ ...

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 club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Early years

Henderson grew up in

Opelousas, Louisiana :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.'' Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 ...

, 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 a former American 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 from nearby G ...

to help defeat the

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

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 An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

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

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

. 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

, where he was member of LSU's national champion track, member of LSU's NCAA-qualifying 4 × 100 metres relay 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

2004 NFL Combine

New Orleans Saints

Henderson was drafted by the

in the second round with the 50th pick of the 2004 NFL Draft. 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 American football, 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 i ...

at quarterback and Sean Payton replace

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

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 are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

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 in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...

''. 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 football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...

'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 that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

. As of Week 17 of the

2012 NFL Season The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League 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 Cowboys ...

, Henderson averages nearly 18 yards per catch (17.9625), which is 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 4377 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

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

NFL career statistics

References

External links

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