{"id":43782,"date":"2026-02-24T12:53:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43782"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:53:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:53:51","slug":"breaking-cincinnati-bengals-projected-to-lose-trey-hendrickson-to-nfc-team-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43782","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING : Cincinnati Bengals Projected To Lose Trey Hendrickson To NFC Team In Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4411,h_2481\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fall_bengals%2F01khy1en0j4bq40h2gxt.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\"><strong>CINCINNATI \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>FOX Sports NFL writer\u00a0Greg Auman thinks\u00a0the AFC North and NFC North will be closely tied in free agency next month. He had the Bengals\u00a0bringing back defensive tackle DJ Reader\u00a0after a two-year stint with Detroit, while he thinks the Bears will pluck Trey Hendrickson away from the Bengals on the open market.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Chicago has -$4 million in cap space right now, but could clear things up to pursue Hendrickson.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">&#8220;Hendrickson, 31, doesn&#8217;t have the luster he had a year ago,&#8221;\u00a0Auman wrote\u00a0about his fourth-ranked player set to hit the market. &#8220;Instead of coming off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons and four straight Pro Bowls, he&#8217;s now coming off core muscle surgery in December that limited him to four sacks in seven games in 2025. He got a one-year, $29 million deal from the Bengals last year, but isn&#8217;t likely to draw as much this time around.\u00a0ESPN has him as the league&#8217;s No. 1 overall free agent, but will he\u00a0get\u00a0more than one year guaranteed, and at\u00a0much\u00a0more than $20 million\u00a0a\u00a0year?\u00a0He needs 19 sacks to reach 100 for his career and could easily get that in two more healthy seasons.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5184,h_3456\/c_fill,w_720,ar_3:2,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/all_bengals\/01kj7rferyekgtgej05t.jpg\" alt=\"Trey Hendrickson\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">Cincinnati cannot let this happen.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">It&#8217;s imperative to operate the smartest way possible and franchise tag Hendrickson for a little over $30 million with the chance to rescind the tag before free agency if no trade suitors arise.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">Even a sixth- or seventh-round pick is better than Hendrickson landing with Chicago like this for nothing.\u00a0Cincinnati can work with Hendrickson over the NFL Combine to find a trade on the tag, and if no\u00a0one pops up, it&#8217;s as simple as rescinding the tag before free agency\u00a0so he can\u00a0move on, and the\u00a0Bengals can\u00a0use\u00a0their full salary cap resources to pursue his replacements.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cincinnati has a big decision to make surrounding Hendrickson&#8217;s franchise tag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - 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