Chargers' Henley does best to focus on job after brother's fatal shooting - ESPN

NASHVILLE, Tenn — Loud bangs awoke linebacker Daiyan Henley on Saturday morning. Henley thought he had overslept a meeting and rushed to the door of his hotel room.

Standing outside was linebacker Denzel Perryman, who told Henley he needed to call his mother. When Henley did, he learned the most harrowing news of his life: his brother, Jabari Henley, was shot and killed the previous night.

«Being transparent, I dropped to my knees,» Henley said.

Henley said he never considered sitting out Sunday's game. It ended up being one of his better performances, as he finished with a sack, a pass deflection and seven tackles in the Los Angeles Chargers' 27-20 win over the Tennessee Titans.

After the game, Henley sat at his locker with a towel over his head as teammates consoled him. He posted a photo on his Instagram story with his eyes welling with tears and the caption, «love you big bro.»

A post shared by Daiyan Henley (@daiyanh11)

Safety Derwin James said he kept an eye on Henley from the pregame warmups to the national anthem and throughout to ensure that if he needed any support, he was there for him.

«That kid's been through so much, man,» James said. «He's our green dot, our leader, our captain, and just being able to battle, bro, that's tough. And for him to go out there, man, I got so much respect for him.»

When Henley sacked Titans quarterback Cam Ward in the second quarter, he dropped to his knees and began to pray.

«I just wanted to talk to my brother one more time,» Henley said. «It was just an emotional moment for me just to be able to make a play on a day like this, just losing him so soon. Like I said, it's been a long year for me, so I had to just send a prayer up and just hopefully heard it.»

Jabari Henley was