Is There a Trade Proposal for Trey Hendrickson That Would Make Sense for the Bengals?

CINCINNATI – There are three big names in contract limbo as the 2025 offseason programs near an end – Cincinnati Bengals defensive Trey Hendrickson, Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins.

So the staff writers at ESPN formulated trade proposals they think would make sense for the dealing team, acquiring team and the player.

There were four trade proposals for Hendrickson, and only one came anywhere close to making sense.

That’s because three of them only involve future draft picks.

If the Bengals were going to trade Hendrickson for picks, it would have been before this year’s draft. And even then, they likely would have required a pass rusher in return, not knowing how the draft would play out for them.

The Bengals have a long-standing philosophy that they view all seasons as equal and don’t have any interest in sacrificing one year for another.

That usually refences the “all-in” philosophy of mortgaging the future to go after a title in the current season.

In this case, the Bengals wouldn’t exactly be punting on 2025 by dealing Hendrickson, but it would be a bad look and a bad decision, no matter how disillusioned he is with head coach Zac Taylor and the front office or how dug-in he is on the idea of not playing this year on his current contract.

They own the majority of the leverage here, and there is just no way they are going to trade Hendrickson for anything less than some sort of asset that helps them win games in 2025.

The only one of the four proposals that include a player in return was made by Seth Walder, who has the Washington Commanders sending the Bengals defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, a third-round pick in 2026 and a seventh-round pick in 2027 for Hendrickson.

Newton isn’t going to come anywhere close to matching the 17.5 sacks Hendrickson recorded each of the last two seasons (he had two sacks in 16 games last year).

But he plays a position of need, and he was a second-round pick last year, which means the Bengals would have him on a rookie contract for three seasons.

Plus he plays a position of need that surprisingly wasn’t addressed in this year’s draft.

Still, this type of deal would be a shocking departure from the way the Bengals operate and would have a far greater chance of being one of the worst trades in team history than it would of it going down as one of the best.

Jeremy Fowler’s proposal had the Indianapolis Colts sending the Bengals a 2026 second-round pick and 2027 fifth for Hendrickson.

Dan Graziano’s proposal had the Buffalo Bills sending the Bengals a 2026 second-round pick for Hendrickson.

And Ben Solak’s proposal had the Detroit Lions sending the Bengals a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 fourth that could become a third with performance conditions for Hendrickson and a 2026 fifth-round pick.

You can read the full list and details of the ESPN trade proposals here.