Herndon makes comeback

There is an old saying in Hollywood: “You’re not anybody until you make a comeback.”

That certainly applies to Jets tight end Chris Herndon.

He struggled mightily over the first half of the 2020 season, including some bad drops and a couple of lost fumbles.

After a bad drop against Arizona on a pass from quarterback Joe Flacco, ESPN’s Rich Cimini, who also works with the Jets’ media partner, SNY, tweeted: “Another Herndon drop. Get him out of the game. He’s awful.”

In Kansas City, Herndon caught a screen pass, but fumbled after a big hit by safety Daniel Sorenson, and it was recovered by cornerback Bashaud Breeland.

A couple of days after this game, Jets GM Joe Douglas was asked about Herndon’s struggles, and threw his support behind Herndon, including shooting down a Daily News report he was shopping the tight end.

“First, no, we were not shopping Chris,” said Douglas, Nov. 3. “Secondly, I feel like Chris has been a little snake-bit since his car accident in terms of the injury last year, the suspension, and this year just hasn’t gone the way he envisioned, I’m sure, which you could say that for 51 or 52 other guys on our team as well. I know Chris, no one cares more than Chris. Chris comes out to practice, gives his all every single day. And so, like for most of our team, the practice hasn’t translated into Sundays.”

No doubt, as Douglas pointed out, Herndon had plenty of company over the first half of the season in terms of players struggling. If the Jets dumped all the players playing poorly over the first half of the season, they would have had a hard time fielding a team.

Herndon certainly rewarded Douglas’ faith in him, bouncing back from his slump, playing some really good football down the stretch, and proving he’s not “awful.”