For the past two years, the Cincinnati Bengals and star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson have failed to come together on a long-term deal. While things quieted down quickly during the 2024 spring and summer months, Hendrickson’s holdout was far more pronounced this past summer.
Though he’s on the wrong side of 30 years old, Hendrickson has had a viable argument for an extension because of back-to-back seasons of 17.5 sacks from 2024-2025. While he received a raise this season, Cincinnati bet on age taking its toll, while Hendrickson bet on himself.
Whichever way you’d like to see it, Hendrickson played in just seven games this year, due to a hip/abdominal injury, and logged just four sacks—his lowest since 2018 with the Saints. Regardless, if the Bengals fail to re-sign or place the franchise tag on him this offseason, Hendrickson will likely see big money coming his way.
Per Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox, he projects a contract of three years for $78 million for the 31-year-old defensive end. And, Knox has him signing this contract with not only an AFC rival down the road, but one with a familiar defensive coordinator.
It feels unlikely that Hendrickson will return to Cincinnati after this past offseason’s public standoff. The Bengals refused to honor his trade request and revised his contract instead of giving him a new deal.
If Hendrickson does hit the open market, the Indianapolis Colts would provide him with a very logical landing spot. Indy will be hoping to reenter the playoff picture after this season’s collapse. The Colts could also use an edge-rusher of Hendrickson’s caliber after notching a good-not-great 39 sacks through 16 games.
Indianapolis also happens to employ former Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo in the same position. Assuming Anarumo is back next season—he’s generated some head-coaching buzz this year—reuniting him with Hendrickson would make a ton of sense.
Despite the long-standing impasse with the Bengals, Hendrickson has made it known that he wants to remain in Cincinnati and be a Bengal. But, with this front office looking ahead to the offseason and having two recent first-round picks in the fold coming around of late (Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart), they may prefer to be “right” about his age, based on this season, and rebuild the defensive line with those two centerpieces.
Hendrickson is currently the sixth-highest Bengal, in terms of career sack numbers, to date. While that may not seem like much in the overall picture, guys ahead of him (Carlos Dunlap, Geno Atkins, Reggie Williams, Eddie Edwards) played a decade or more for this team. Hendrickson has been with the Bengals in half that time, after joining as a free agent in the 2021 offseason.
Anarumo was a hot-head coaching name in the middle of the season, but with the Colts’ fall from grace towards the end of the year, that may have cooled down. Hendrickson saw his best seasons under Anarumo’s watch as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator (and joined the Bengals in Anarumo’s third year in that position with the Bengals as a free agent), which included a 2024 runner-up nod to the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Cincinnati has some hard decisions to make this spring—none harder than with Hendrickson. It’s possible that there is a tag situation, giving the team flexibility with either keeping or trading him. Or, given the issues over the past two offseasons, they may wash their hands of things and let him see what he could net in free agency (with a possible match/bettering also in the cards).
However, it plays out, Hendrickson will remain arguably the best outside free agent signing the Bengals have ever mad,e and he’s flirting with Hall of Fame accolades—particularly if he is the anomaly many think he is and continues to perform well into his thirties.
