Commanders' Trey Hendrickson dream might be dead after surprise move

This offseason has been home to some high-level trades for the Washington Commanders. Adam Peters has gotten fairly aggressive in that department after the rousing success we saw in the 2024 season.

Despite having moved significant capital to land the likes of Deebo Samuel and Laremy Tunsil, Washington still could have entered the conversation for Cincinnati Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson.

After the Bengals released starting linebacker Germaine Pratt on Monday, though, any glimmer of hope might just be gone.

Cincinnati may have crushed any remaining hope for Tren Hendrickson in Washington

By releasing Pratt, the Bengals saved just under $6 million. By opening up even more money, that now begs the question of whether or not it will allow them to get a deal done with Hendrickson.

The contract standoff between Cincinnati and Hendrickson has been well-documented and continues to see no end in sight.

But, after the release of Pratt, there should be some added wiggle room thus making it feasible to get a contract extension done with the star pass rusher. It's only a bit of perceived momentum at the moment, but this all adds up.

The idea that the Bengals would release their leading tackler all while knowing they're not going to get anything worked out with Hendrickson is pretty farfetched. NFL franchises have done dumb things before, and will continue to do so, but this seems like a painful mistake if it were to come to fruition.

Instead, I think it means the Bengals will be able to work something out with Hendrickson and, in the process, end all of the whispers around a potential trade -- yes, even to the Commanders.

Maybe Washington would have never given up the needed capital to land Hendrickson, or maybe Peters would have shocked us all. At this point, it looks like it won't matter.

The Commanders will have to look elsewhere if they still see a need to address their pass rush, because Hendrickson looks like he's going to stay put.