The Cincinnati Bengals have been praised for avoiding the costly mistake of trading star defensive end Trey Hendrickson.

Hendrickson is by far the best tradeable asset on the Bengals roster right now, hence his reps going out of their way to get permission from the team to seek a trade in the first place.

Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker recently listed every team’s top trade asset and confirmed the thinking about Hendrickson:

“Hendrickson was among the league’s best defensive players last season, ranking first in pass-rush win rate (20.0%), third in PFF pass-rushing grade (90.4), third in total pressures (83) and ninth in PFF overall grade (88.1) among qualified edge defenders. Cincinnati being late to reward Hendrickson means that he’d probably require at least $35 million per year unless the All-Pro is willing to take a discount.”

No wonder other teams had an interest in trading for the NFL’s sack leader, right?

Hendrickson’s trade market seemed to dry up pretty quickly, though. While he’s one of the NFL’s best, he’s in his 30s, likely seeking a contract that pays in excess of $30 million annually and the acquiring team also has to meet whatever price the Bengals request via trade.

With Tee Higgins locked down on a new contract, the Bengals don’t have much in the way of tradeable assets that will fetch a nice return. The most obvious name left is linebacker Germaine Pratt, but it remains to be seen whether the team actually makes good on his request and can get anything back of note in return.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ top trade candidate isn’t hard to figure out