GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A one-handed catch can be one of the most spectacular plays in football (see Beckham Jr., Odell).
For Mitchell Henry, it's the new norm.
The Green Bay Packers rookie tight end has no other choice.
Henry broke the middle finger on his left hand -- actually, backup quarterback Scott Tolzien broke it with a fastball of a pass in practice -- and now has to practice and play with an oversized club cast covering everything but the thumb.
It's one thing for a linebacker like Nate Palmer to have to play with as a club. It's another for a tight end.
Yet Henry has still managed to catch most of the passes thrown his way in training camp.
How so?
"A lot of body catches," Henry said. "You can trap it against it. It's not easy. You just get used to it. Just using your body a lot more than anything."
The 6-foot-4, 252-pound undrafted free agent from Western Kentucky knows it's not ideal but if he's going to make the team, he has no other choice but to keep practicing.
"You've got to practice," said Henry, who played six snaps on offense and seven on special teams with the cast in last Thursday's preseason opener at New England. "You've got to play. If you don't, you don't have a chance."
With Justin Perillo sidelined with a concussion, Henry's reps have increased. The Packers have only two established tight ends -- Richard Rodgers and Andrew Quarless -- so there's plenty of opportunity for Henry, who was off to a good start before his injury.
"It's a lot more difficult when you have a club on your hand," Henry said. "You can't use that as an excuse, but at least I'm able to go out there and do things. It's not limiting me so that I can't practice at all, so that's good. But before I think it was going good. I was getting better, and then this happened, but I can't use this as an excuse."
How does #Packers TE Mitchell Henry catch with this thing on his hand?: "A lot of body catches," he said. (@AP photo) pic.twitter.com/L964cAWq4f
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) August 17, 2015