What’s up with the Cincinnati Bengals? Their defensive star wants to be traded. But the Bengals are playing it close to the vest with another star. Also, Trey Hendrickson’s teammates reacted to his trade bombshell, according to a post on X by Ari Meirov.
#Bengals defensive players reacting to the Trey Hendrickson news: (with an attachment of Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson posting a melting smiley face — which means a range of emotions, including embarrassment, shame, disgust, and frustration).
It raises red flags for the Bengals because Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks with 17.5 last season. He performed well on a defense that couldn’t stop many teams for most of the year.
Bengals may have to trade DE Trey Hendrickson
Hendrickson, a third-round pick of the Saints in the 2017 NFL Draft, joined Cincinnati as a free agent in 2021. The eight-year veteran had 17.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons. He’s been to the Pro Bowl for four straight years and made first-team All-Pro in 2024 while also finishing second in the AP defensive player of the year voting.
At 30 years old, perhaps the Bengals don’t believe he’s worth a long-term deal. Hendrickson probably didn’t appreciate the Bengals going offense-heavy by giving the franchise tag to Tee Higgins.
Here’s the makes-sense part of the situation, according to nfl.com.
“With no guaranteed money left on Hendrickson’s deal and two straight 17.5-sack seasons in his last two years, Hendrickson is a highly attractive trade chip for teams seeking help on the edge,” Nick Shook wrote. “Cincinnati can save $16 million in cap space by trading him this offseason, making such a deal beneficial for the Bengals from a business standpoint.”
But with Sam Hubbard’s retirement, trading Hendrickson means the Bengals wouldn’t have either of their starting edge rushers heading into 2025.
Maybe new defensive coordinator Al Golden is wondering what he got himself into with the potential of a no-stars defense. Maybe his emphasis on tackling will make a difference, according to bengals.com.
“We are going to convene and plot a course for how we want to tackle, how we want to disrupt the football,” Golden said. “(And) we are going to teach it, we are going to drill it. Also, we are going to quality control it. We are going to show the application to the game and then we are going to show the standard. Whether that’s Bengals or other guys in our division or around the league that we are chasing that standard.”
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