Trey Hendrickson situation keeps getting uglier for Bengals

The entire situation and saga has to be frustrating, and maybe even infuriating, for Bengals fans and probably even a lot of Cincinnati players.

Hendrickson is one of the NFL's best defensive players and was the lone bright spot on what was one of the league's worst defensive groups the past two seasons. He has recorded 17.5 sacks in each of the past two seasons, leading the league in 2024, and has eclipsed the 13.5 mark in four of the past five seasons. 

And the Bengals have not been able to pay him, despite being willing to sink huge money into the offense. 

Hendrickson is set to make $16M this season, and even though he returned to the team, he has not yet touched the practice field. He has also said he will not play out the season under his current contract terms. 

Finding a trade partner seems like a long-shot at this point given how complicated such a move would be.

From the Bengals perspective, they would need to get draft pick (or player) compensation back in return that would make it worth it for them to trade their only high-end defensive player. You would have to imagine that only a handful of teams in the league — most likely top-tier contenders — would be willing to pay that sort of draft-pick capital for a player at this stage of the season.

The team trading for him is also going to have to be able to do what the Bengals have failed to do and actually get Hendrickson signed to a contract and at least come closer to meeting his demands. That is also going to be complicated. 

Either way, this is a very grim story for the Bengals and their playoff chances. They were a bad defense with him on the field. They will be significantly worse without him. Right now, it is looking, one way or another, like they will not have him when the season begins, either due to a trade or him refusing to play out his contract. 

The Bengals have already wasted several years of quarterback Joe Burrow's prime by surrounding him with a lousy defense. This might be setting up for another season just like that.