Getty Former Raider Mario Henderson with Brandon Myers.
At the age of 35, former Raiders and Florida State offensive tackle Mario Henderson has passed away. Henderson’s former teammate James Chaney revealed the news early Wednesday morning.
On behalf of the Lehigh Football Program I would like to extend my condolences to the family of our Brother, Lehigh Lightning & Florida State Seminole GREAT, Mr. Mario Henderson! #BoltUp #RestInPeace #Noleforever
No cause of death has been revealed and he was just several days away from his 36th birthday. Henderson is best-remembered for his towering size at 6-foot-7. Interestingly enough, he didn’t play football until his senior year of high school. That didn’t stop him from getting a scholarship to Florida State where he impressed. In high school, he was also a basketball standout and made First-Team All-State. Obviously, he decided to pursue football due to his humongous size.
Henderson was drafted by the Raiders in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He only played in one game as a rookie but quickly became the team’s left tackle. He started 28 games with the team and his last season with the team saw them go 8-8. At the time, that was their best season since 2002.
Henderson became a free agent after the 2010 season but he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, via East Bay Express. That ended his time with the Raiders. He eventually signed with the Chargers but never played a game with them.
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Henderson’s Last Tweet Was Predicting Raiders Super Bowl Run
Henderson only played four seasons with the Raiders but the old adage of “Once a Raider, Always a Raider” certainly applied to him. In fact, the last tweet he sent was predicting a Super Bowl for his old team.
Raider Nation, our run to the super bowl starts now. ☠️☠️🏈🏈🏆 #raidernation #raiders
The Raiders also remembered him as they just recently sent him a brick with his name on hit commemorating his time with the team. He posted about it on Facebook on September 22, 2020.
“Just got this in the mail today a actually brick replica from the Las Vegas Raiders new stadium,” Henderson wrote. “Every former player has a brick in the stadium to forever recognized them as a Raider. Plus a big win last night vs the saints. Once a raider always a Raider.”
Henderson’s social media is replete with love for the Raiders.
Raiderssssssssssss
Great game, great win Raiders
#RaiderNation 🏈🏈🏉🏆
I luv it 🏈🏈😎. Thanks to @RAIDERS and my little bro @hunterderick31 for the pic. Go follow him he a 4 star and 1 of best DE’s in the country.
Henderson clearly still had lots of love for his former team and he’ll be immortalized at Allegiant Stadium as a brick with his name on it has already been placed.
Henderson Played in Multiple Football Leagues
Though Henderson was out of the NFL by 2012, his love of football didn’t stop. He tried his hand at a number of different football leagues. He spent a year with the Virginia Destroyers, which was part of the United Football League (UFL). He then made it to the Arena Football League (AFL) and played for the Utah Blaze. After a year there, he played in the Indoor Football League for the Colorado Ice.
His last stop was heading back to the Arena Football League to play for the Tampa Bay Storm. He clearly had a passion for football and stuck around for a very long time. It’s not exactly clear what he’s been doing since 2015, which was his last year playing football.
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