Seantrel Henderson has nothing but good memories as he prepared for return to Miami

Miami — One may think Miami would spark bad memories for Buffalo Bills rookie offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson.

Miami is where everything almost came undone for Henderson, who chose to play for the Hurricanes after being the top recruit in the nation coming out of high school. But a few different injuries and three separate suspensions kept Henderson from living up to the billing. It's why he fell all the way to the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft, where the Bills took a chance on him.

Now Henderson is nine games into his NFL career, and he's started every one of those games. His past seems to be behind him, so there's nothing but good memories when it comes to returning to Miami for a Week 11 game against the Dolphins on Thursday Night Football.

"It feels good to go back and play in the stadium I played in for four years," Henderson said. "I've got a whole lot of memories in this stadium, you know what I'm saying? And the weather, I kind of miss that, too. It's going to be good to go down there and play in 70- or 75-degree weather, whatever it's going to be. I'll see a couple of friends and a couple family members that's down the way."

Henderson's mom, grandmother, uncle and a few of his close friends will be in attendance on Thursday night as he tries to put together a second strong performance against Dolphins star pass rusher Cameron Wake. Even on a short week, Henderson knows after his first battle with Wake that preparation is everything.

"I just go back and watch the film on our game and from all the games afterward and see if he's doing anything different, how he rushing, what type of moves he does, just to make sure I'm on my p's and q's as far as my set and how I approach him and how I can get my hands on him and things like that.

"I have to get ready for him and be up to the challenge."

Henderson has quite a bit more experience to draw on in this start than he did the last time he and Wake faced one another in Week 2. Henderson has settled in nicely for the Bills at right tackle, though he's still had his ups and downs.

"I'm a lot more comfortable now, man, doing this week in and week out, going up against the best ends that's playing ball right now," Henderson said. "It's just getting a little easier and easier because of the fact that I've been playing game after game, getting used to just playing in games and the different situations and things like that."

By the time Henderson steps on the field Thursday night, he'll be quite a bit different than the last time he was playing at Sun Life Stadium.


(syracuse.com)