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By Megan Armstrong
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The Cincinnati Bengals' logic tree has several crooked branches.
Over the past year, that has manifested through their handling of All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Last spring, at the behest of star quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals signed All-Pro wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and Pro Bowl wide receiver Tee Higgins to lucrative extensions simultaneously. Burrow, Chase, and Higgins made fireworks in 2024, but the 9-8 Bengals still missed the playoffs, largely because the defense was poor.
The best player on Cincinnati's defense was Hendrickson, but the Bengals reportedly allowed Hendrickson to seek a trade last March, only for Jordan Schultz to report in late March that the Bengals had no intention of trading Hendrickson and wanted to lock him up like they had Chase and Higgins.
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That did not happen.
Hendrickson held out all offseason, leading the Bengals to listen to trade offers in mid-August, but ultimately, Hendrickson signed a revised one-year contract that guaranteed a pay raise in 2025 but nothing beyond that.
Now, the Bengals will reportedly walk away from the Hendrickson sweepstakes empty-handed.
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According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Bengals will not franchise tag Hendrickson, which will make him an unrestricted free agent when the new league year and free agency officially begin on March 11.
Maybe the Bengals thought they could trade Hendrickson after the 2025 season, but the trade value was never going to be higher than last offseason, after Hendrickson led the NFL with 17.5 sacks in 2024. The Bengals, who desperately need to replenish their roster, receiving nothing in return for their best available asset when they could is nothing short of an abject failure.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Get Up this morning that the Bengals had "checked around the league with the idea to see if teams would be interested in trading for Trey Hendrickson, in which case they would tag him — and tag him to trade him — but I don't think that they've sensed a lot of interest."
Last season, Hendrickson only played seven games. He dealt with mysterious injury issues — first labeled a back injury, then a hip ailment — and last played on Oct. 26. He eventually underwent core muscle surgery in December. Still, now that acquiring Hendrickson won't cost a team additional draft capital, he should have a healthy free-agent market.
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