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Roderick ¨Ghost” Henderson: A Tennessee Titans UDFA

By Anthony Tvaroch

Jan 18, 2016; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Titans new general manager Jon Robinson during a press conference at Saint Thomas Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 18, 2016; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Titans new general manager Jon Robinson during a press conference at Saint Thomas Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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A look at a promising UDFA prospect for the Tennessee Titans.

As the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft ended, former Alabama State defensive tackle Roderick Henderson was still not selected.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Roderick states that he ¨expects to be drafted.¨ This had to be disappointing to him when the call didn´t come. But what some people don´t know, is that his phone did ring during the draft.

I recently had the pleasure to conduct an interview with Roderick and ask him a couple of questions. One of the first being, ¨How long did it take after the draft for you to get the call asking if you would like to join the Tennessee Titans.¨

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His response was ¨I got the call close to the last pick in the draft.¨ If no other team decided to draft him, he was going to become one of the newest members of the Tennessee Titans.

According to Henderson via text, ¨I had like six other teams that were interested in signing me after the draft ended. ¨What made you choose the Titans?¨ I asked. ¨I had already had a private workout with the Tennessee Titans and that was one of the reasons I came to the Titans. And the city of Nashville is very nice. I also played in the stadium against Tennessee State University.¨

Familiarity with the city and the Tennessee Titans stadium seemed to play a major role in where he decided to sign. Although getting drafted is great and I am sure he would have loved to have been drafted. A perk in being an undrafted free agent is that you can choose where you want to sign if you get the call. Clearly he felt Tennessee was the more ¨comfortable¨ place for him to sign.

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    • Another question that I asked him was to ¨tell me one of your greatest strengths as a player? And maybe something you need to work on?¨ He seemed set on his answer.

    As the next message came fairly quickly. ¨One of my greatest strengths is to make a new line of scrimmage every play and create double team blocks.¨ He uses his size and strength to take up two blockers, to free up another lineman or linebacker to make a play.

    ¨Something I need to work on is slowing down,” Henderson stated.

    I wasn´t sure what he meant at first when he said that. So I asked him what he meant. ¨When I get free in the backfield I need to slow down so I can make a play.¨

    He seemed to improve on what he thought was his weakness his final year in college. His senior year he had 12.5 tackles for loss at the defensive tackle position according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

    That brought me to my next question. ¨Fans like to know a nickname? Do you have one?¨ Henderson simply replied, ¨Ghost¨. I asked him his story behind his nickname. ¨When I was 5 in peewee league, My coach called me Ghost because I got in the backfield so fast, he said it was like I was a Ghost.¨ So it stuck. Hence his twitter handle @94_GHOST.

    Henderson told me that he ¨modeled himself after Vince Wilfork and Damon ¨Snacks¨ Harrison.¨ I guess if you are a defensive tackle, how could you not model yourself after two guys that dominate at that particular position? He then told me that the biggest play he has ever made in a game was his ¨blocked kick in the Magic City Classic.¨

    According to alabamanews.net this game was going down to the wire. Alabama A&M looked to take a lead with a field goal in the last few seconds of the game. When Ghost got one of his paws up to block the go ahead 33 yard field goal and send the game into OT.

    I also asked him some not so serious questions. His favorite music artist is ¨YFN Lucci¨. The song he listens to to get himself ¨hype¨ before a game is called ¨Who I Do It For¨.

    His favorite football team growing up was ¨The St. Louis Rams.¨ When I asked him if he had a favorite NBA player or team. Ghost replied, ¨I don´t have a favorite NBA team but my favorite player is the G.O.A.T. Kobe Bryant.¨

    Henderson´s hobbies outside of football include ¨reading, playing tennis, fishing, and working on cars.¨ The tennis hobby grabbed my attention. If this guy, as big as he is (6 ft. 1 in. 353 lbs), can play tennis, he must be extremely athletic. So I asked something I thought I would know the answer to before I sent it.

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    ¨If there was a fumble, are you a scoop and score kind of player, or are you falling on the ball just to get the turnover?¨ Henderson replied with laughter, ¨ Lol I´m the scoop and score one lol.¨ His pro day numbers proved that he was pretty athletic. According to Draft Analysis, his pro day was exceptional. He displayed ¨great quickness, and solid movement skills.¨ If you want to view all of his pro day numbers, feel free to click the link above.

    Roderick ¨Ghost¨ Henderson graduated from Alabama State with a degree in Criminal Justice. But When I asked him ¨If he didn´t have football, what would he want to do?¨ He had a simple answer. ¨I can´t really answer that. All I know is football.

    My biggest accomplishment is making my dream come true and getting a chance to play in the NFL. The Titans are getting a great player that not only will do right on the field but also off the field. A guy that will never have any off the field issues and a player that will be involved and loved in the community.¨

    Ghost Henderson is an extremely intelligent, athletic, and confident person and football player. He is climbing an uphill battle to make this football team, but this guy is a gamer. A defensive tackle is definitely a position that the Titans need to add a little depth at. Could Ghost be the small school story of the undrafted free agency class this year? Stay tuned to the Titans training camp to find out.

    If you liked this article, check out my podcast entitled The Post Route. My co-host and I break down something to do with the Titans every week. You can subscribe to that and give us some feedback on any of the major podcast networks. Let us know what you think. I want to thank Roderick Henderson for giving me an interview when he didn´t have to. 

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