Hunter Henry takes QB reps at practice with Maye’s status unclear

Hunter Henry takes QB reps at practice with Maye’s status unclear originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Hunter Henry has been the New England Patriots’ most productive pass-catcher this season. But he showed off some different skills at Wednesday’s practice.

The veteran tight end was spotted throwing passes while briefly working with quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett and Joe Milton during the portion of practice open to the media outside Gillette Stadium. Henry followed Milton, taking at least two snaps under center from an assistant coach before throwing to stationary receivers.

The Patriots are down a quarterback with rookie Drake Maye still in the NFL’s concussion protocol after suffering a head injury in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. While head coach Jerod Mayo said Maye would be a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice, the rookie could only practice for a maximum of 30 minutes and wasn’t spotted during the portion of practice open to the media.

It’s possible Henry was just serving as a place-holder for Maye; Brissett and Milton are the only other quarterbacks on the Patriots’ roster, as the team doesn’t have a QB on its practice squad. If Maye is able to clear concussion protocol before Sunday, he’ll likely get the start, with Brissett as the backup and Milton as the emergency third-string QB.

If Maye doesn’t play Sunday, however, Brissett would be the starter and Milton would be the lone backup. If both Brissett and Milton get hurt, the Patriots would need a position player to play QB, since they don’t have a third quarterback on their roster to designate as their “emergency QB.” (More on the NFL’s emergency QB rule here.)

Whether Henry — who’s never attempted an NFL pass and hasn’t played QB at any level, including high school — would be New England’s “break glass in case of emergency” quarterback in that scenario remains to be seen. But considering Henry was doing his best QB impression at Wednesday’s practice, he’d seem like the lead candidate to go under center should Brissett and Milton both go down.

It’s safe to say the Patriots hope that scenario doesn’t come close to playing out when they visit the Tennessee Titans at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.