Things between the Cincinnati Bengals and star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson haven’t exactly been the smoothest, as the team gave the 30-year-old permission to find a trade partner earlier this offseason.
While Cincinnati has agreed to extensions with multiple players this offseason, Hendrickson’s negotiations haven’t gone well. In fact, he showed up at the facility last week and spoke to the media and shared that he won’t play under his current deal in 2025.
“With the lack of communication post-draft, made it evidently clear for my party, meaning my wife, my son, my agent, right, like we’re talking a small group of people, that I had to inform that this might not work out,” Hendrickson said. “And that’s unfortunate, I don’t think it was necessary, I think we all should have hoped for the best until proved otherwise, but through that other things have transpired, like the importance of me being here in OTAs doesn’t seem to be respected, and I think I’ve carried a lot of respect. I don’t mean to insinuate anything about anyone’s character, but that was disappointing.”
At this point in the offseason, it feels like if Hendrickson does play in 2025, it will be with another team after Cincinnati finally trades him. While many teams should be interested in one of the top edge rushers in the NFL today, The Draft Network’s Justin Melo recently identified the Arizona Cardinals as an intriguing landing spot.
Arizona has invested heavily into their front this offseason, inking Josh Sweat to a four-year, $76.4 million deal, using their first-round pick on Ole Miss defensive end Walter Nolan and bringing home Calais Campbell.
Hendrickson could really take Arizona’s defense, which finished 17th in sack percentage in 2024 (recording sacks on 7.07% of opposing quarterback dropbacks), to the next level.
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Meanwhile, trading Hendrickson would hurt a defense that already lost one of their best edge rushers this offseason to retirement in Sam Hubbard. They’d be asking a lot out of Joseph Ossai, Myles Murphy and first-round pick Shemar Stewart, but the Bengals seem uninterested in paying Hendrickson what he wants.
If they trade him now, they’d be able to get at least a draft pick in 2026, and the package could be better than what they’d get as a compensatory pick if Hendrickson were to leave next year.
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