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The Cincinnati Bengals are in a tricky situation with edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. Cincinnati has yet to give Hendrickson the extension he has demanded all offseason. Now trade rumors continue to spread about Hendrickson as the offseason progresses into mandatory OTAs.
ESPN’s Ben Baby explained what he believes would be an ideal trade package for Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson in a recent article.
“The Bengals granted Hendrickson permission to seek a trade in March, but no team has offered the desired compensation,” Baby wrote. “Cincinnati has the cap space ($24.7 million, per Roster Management System) to work out a new deal with him, so there is a path that keeps Hendrickson with the Bengals. But a trade package that features a potential multiyear starter and one or two top-100 draft picks could help the Bengals better maximize their championship window with quarterback Joe Burrow.”
If this is close to what the Bengals want for Hendrickson, it is easy to understand why a trade has not happened yet.
Hendrickson is, without question, an elite NFL edge rusher. After all, he is coming off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons. That said, Hendrickson will also be incredibly expensive for a new team to sign.
According to Spotrac, Hendrickson has a market value of $31.5 million per season. He could easily demand more than that because of his leverage in this trade situation.
If the Bengals do not extend or trade Hendrickson, he seems determined to sit out the 2025 NFL season.
The same ESPN article featured a handful of hypothetical trade offers for Hendrickson from ESPN analysts.
In this exercise, the Bengals received offers from the Colts, Bills, Lions, and Commanders for Hendrickson. Interestingly enough, none of these offers satisfied the conditions that Baby laid out as the ideal trade package.
Ben Solak’s offer from the Lions looked like the best of the bunch. He proposed that Detroit offer a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 fourth-round pick for Hendrickson. It is important to note that the 2027 pick could escalate to a third-round pick based on Hendrickson’s performance.
Even this offer only satisfies two of Baby’s criteria for Hendrickson.
If Hendrickson is indeed traded, it would likely happen much closer to NFL training camp.
Bengals fans are hopeful that the team will meet Hendrickson’s demands well before then.
The post Bengals rumors: Insider reveals ideal Trey Hendrickson trade package appeared first on ClutchPoints.
