The ball sails about 55 yards with an arc out of an NFL Films highlight reel, landing in the one saucer-sized hole on the field that is impossible to defend.

Eyebrows rise on the grizzled faces that fleck the sidelines of the Texans' indoor practice facility in February. Butterflies dance in stomachs that were hosts to fajitas and tequilas the night before. Free-agent receiver Sylvester Morris catches the ball effortlessly without breaking stride and glides into the end zone where, minutes later, he will be shaking hands on a contract with the Bucs.

This is what executives, scouts and coaches from 20 NFL teams came to see. Yes, Drew Henson can throw the rock. He can throw it so well that the Houston Texans traded him to the Dallas Cowboys on Friday for a third-round draft choice in 2005.

He can put air under the ball. He can time a pass. He can make it look easy for his receivers. He can throw an out route that screams. He can move surprisingly well for a 6-4 man with a sturdy build.

Henson has all the physical traits that anyone who studies football looks for in a quarterback. In fact, in Bradenton, Fla., where Henson had been working out with other quarterbacks in the International Management Group's training program, they were whispering last month that Henson holds his own with Mississippi's Eli Manning.

Duke from Galveston: So you reckon some team will trade the Texans a top 10 pick in the draft for him?

Not so fast, pardner. These are not alarming issues, but Henson aims the ball some and doesn't always put it in the sweet spot. He carries the ball a little low, like what you'd expect from a former third baseman. His spiral is not the tightest you've ever seen.

Billy Bob from Beaumont: Don't mess with Texas. If he ain't worth a first-rounder, my new flatbed ain't worth a Radio Flyer.

Whoa, cowboy. It isn't all about throwing pretty passes in shorts.

There was a time, after the 2000 season, when Henson was considered a lock to be one of the first players selected in the 2002 draft. That was before he decided to try to become the next Graig Nettles instead of the next Jim Harbaugh. Three years have passed.

"There's some guesswork and a certain amount of angst involved, not only because he had a long layoff but also because he only played that one year in college," says Packers coach Mike Sherman, who watched the workout last Thursday along with Bills coach Mike Mularkey, Giants G.M. Ernie Accorsi, Astros pitcher Roger Clemens and scores of others.

Teams will be making a mistake, in my opinion, if they place too much emphasis on Henson starting only nine games at Michigan. "Your mind should be pretty well made up after watching nine games against good competition, like the Big Ten," Browns consultant Ron Wolf says.

It also would be a mistake to think Henson, 24 — or any player — couldn't overcome a layoff. Many others, from Roger Staubach to Tommy Maddox, have. "I don't think the layoff was that big of a deal," Wolf says. "He was playing a form of athletics. I realize he was not under a rush or throwing a football, but his body was trained."

The player whose career path best parallels Henson's is Cowboys quarterback Chad Hutchinson. Hutchinson was away from football for four years while playing baseball. In his first year back, 2002, he started the last nine games for Dallas. He was beaten out in 2003 by Quincy Carter but still has the potential to become a good NFL quarterback.

It was easier for scouts to evaluate Hutchinson based on his college career, because he had 14 more starts and threw 253 more passes at Stanford than Henson did at Michigan. But Henson was the superior college player with a 96.2 passer rating compared with Hutchinson's 76.6.

And really, that's what should determine what Henson is worth — the kind of player he has been, and the kind of player he can become. "In college, he made some throws normal quarterbacks can't make," Dolphins general manager Rick Spielman said while waiting for Henson's workout to begin. "He stood out against Ohio State. He just kept bringing them back in a shootout against Northwestern. You see some things like that."

And other things. "He was up and down," one executive who studied him said. "He had some good games, some bad, some average."

His intelligence isn't an issue, as Henson scored a 42 out of a possible 50 on the Wonderlic test given to him last week by the Texans. His passion for the game might be questioned, because his first love apparently wore seams, not laces. Don't think this has not occurred to the Chiefs, Packers, Dolphins, Bills, Cowboys and Giants — the teams that appear most interested.

Had Henson re-entered the draft this year — which would have happened if the Texans, who drafted him in the sixth round last year, didn't trade him — at least two quarterbacks, Manning and Ben Roethlisberger of Miami (Ohio), would have been chosen ahead of him.

Hank from Jacinto City: Dang, boy, are you saying Henson ain't worth a beat-up pair of cowboy boots?

Don't fall of your horse. I thought Henson was worth a second-round pick, as long as there are multiple bidders, but the Texans got a third-round pick in 2005.

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