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Former Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley fares well at NFL Combine

Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley warms up before a Pac-12 game against Utah on Oct. 27 at Gesa Field in Pullman. Henley participated in the NFL Combine this week. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Colton Clark coltonc@spokesman.com

Former Washington State linebacker Daiyan Henley showed off his speed and agility earlier this week at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, clocking an impressive time in the 40-yard dash and posting upper-tier marks in other drills.

Henley ran the 40 yards in 4.54 seconds – the 10th-best time among linebackers at the event and within 0.15 seconds of the fastest . His 10-yard split of 1.55 seconds ranked fifth in his position group. Henley recorded a 35-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 5-inch broad jump, ranking sixth and fifth for combine LBs, respectively.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder did not participate in the bench press. It’s uncertain whether Henley will attend WSU’s pro day later this month.

NFL Next Gen Stats gave Henley a 78 overall grade after his combine performance – the fourth-best grade for a linebacker entering the NFL draft.

“That diverse skill set and his movement skills were easy to see,” ESPN’s Jordan Reid said. “He looked the best of anyone during multiple change-of-direction drills that required him to drop into coverage. The savvy he learned from playing on the back end has carried over to his new position. A strong Senior Bowl performance catapulted Henley into the third-round discussion. After a strong showing today, it’s hard to imagine him getting out of Day 2.”

Henley interviewed with the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers during the combine, according to Sports Illustrated.

The majority of mock drafts predict Henley will be taken in either the second or third round. He was a standout player at the Senior Bowl last month in Mobile, Alabama, according to several reports.

A Los Angeles native, Henley began his collegiate career as a receiver/return man at Nevada before switching to defensive back in 2019. He flipped to linebacker in 2020 and earned All-Mountain West second-team honors as a junior in 2021 before transferring to WSU for his final year.

Henley played a starring role for the Cougars was named to the All-Pac-12 first team. He led the team and finished the year second in the conference with 106 tackles, adding 12 for loss and four sacks. Henley forced three fumbles and recovered two.