All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson has emerged as a popular name in trade talks following an offseason contract saga with the Bengals and their subsequent 2-4 start to the season.
The 49ers are among the teams interested in trading for Hendrickson, though Cincinnati is reportedly not interested in moving him. Other expected suitors include the Colts, Eagles, and Cowboys, per Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline. Hendrickson is owed $9.8MM for the rest of the season if traded after Week 8 ($8.9MM if after Week 9, per OverTheCap), and the Bengals will likely want an acquiring team to pick up all of his remaining salary.
We noted when the Colts restructured Kenny Moore‘s contract earlier this month that general manager Chris Ballard could be clearing space for a big swing ahead of the trade deadline to take advantage of a surprising 5-1 start. Going after Hendrickson, one of the league’s premier edge rushers, would certainly fall into that category. Indianapolis does not necessarily need the pass rush help – their 16 sacks are tied for seventh-most in the NFL – but no individual player has more than 3.0 sacks. Instead, they have 11 defenders who have contributed to a sack this year; adding Hendrickson to that group would give them an elite individual sack-getter on top of a well-schemed pass rush.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has a reputation of being a big-name hunter on the trade market, but most of his higher-profile deals have come during the offseason. However, Philadelphia has a bottom-10 pass rush with only nine sacks as a team and no player with more than two. Nolan Smith and Ogbo Okoronkwo are already on injured reserve, and Za’Darius Smith just retired, so the Eagles defense could definitely use reinforcements on the edge. Roseman’s aggressive cap management has given the team enough room to absorb’s Hendrickson’s contract, though it would tighten their budget for the rest of the season.
The Cowboys pass rush has predictably struggled following the departures of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, leading to one of the worst defensive units in the NFL. Jerry Jones recently hinted that he could be active ahead of the trade deadline, and he acknowledge that every asset would be on the table, including the picks acquired from Green Bay in the Parsons trade. The Cowboys could certainly use a player of Hendrickson’s caliber, as they currently have the ninth-fewest sacks in the NFL (11).
We heard recently that the 49ers see Hendrickson as “an ideal fit for their defense.” The team lost star pass rusher Nick Bosa to a season-ending ACL tear in Week 3, and 49ers general manager John Lynch has made it known that he’s looking for help on the edge. That front office hasn’t been afraid to take in-season swings, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the team acquired a player of Hendrickson’s talent as they look to maximize their current core.
As mentioned, the Bengals have resisted any trade inquires for their star pass rusher. However, if the team doesn’t improve as the trade deadline inches closer, there’s a chance the team starts fielding offers.
Ben Levine contributed to this post.
Brad Holmes = crickets
If Dallas trades one of the Green Bay picks here, it would be stupid, in my opinion. Hendrickson is great, and they’d get back the production that they missed, but they’d essentially have lost a young defender in his prime for an older player soon to go into his 30s. Don’t get me wrong-independently, Hendrickson helps solve Dallas’ issues, but those picks need to go roster building to make that trade productive for Dallas.
San Fran seems like a perfect fit, especially if they can get Hendrickson to stay for a few years past this one, but I feel like Granderson from New Orleans is a good target for them, too. Really, he’s a great fit as a cheaper option for all of these teams, and is two years younger than Hendrickson. He’d likely be cheaper to acquire and has a couple of reasonably paid years left on his current deal. I get if the 9ers just want a rental for this year, but what Cincy will want if they decide to trade Hendrickson will probably be expensive for a one year player.
This feels, somehow, like one of those Roseman moves that he pulls off for Philly. They really need any kind of edge rush, and they’ve lost some good leaders on that front. The Colts have the disadvantage of being in the AFC, but I don’t think that Cincy would consider that over their own situation. That would be a fun front for them to field in a division that has had trouble protecting its passers.
Howie, if you want to turn this defense around you need to go get Trey. we have 0 pass rush and that is killing our secondary cause they need to cover for 4-5 seconds every single snap. you tried to be cheap in the off-season and let to much walk at once at important positions.
There is this thing called the salary cap…
Yall get weird about GMs having to do that job and pretend like they’re just letting dudes walk for pennies.