There were some high highs for the Bengals and DE Trey Hendrickson in the last five seasons. There were some lows, too, especially toward the end. The two sides are finally parting ways after an acrimonious 12-month stretch as Hendrickson sought a contract he thought was fair. Now the open market will determine his value.
While Hendrickson probably won’t be breaking many records as a 31-year-old pass rusher coming off a season where he was limited to just seven games, he should still do quite well for himself. In the two years before last, he combined for 35 sacks. Even last year, he still had four sacks in seven games before a sports hernia injury shut him down. He’s a sack artist and sack artists get paid.
Teams will be a little wary of his age but Hendrickson didn’t show any signs of slowing down before his injury and will have had plenty of time to recuperate. Pretty much any team that’s contemplating a trade for Raiders DE Maxx Crosby should be in the mix for Hendrickson, as while he might demand a similar contract, he won’t require forking over premium picks.
Speaking of salary, Hendrickson will probably push for something in the $40 million per year neighborhood. Steelers OLB T.J. Watt and Browns DE Myles Garrett are over 30 and crossed that threshold last year, which was part of what caused issues when Cincinnati didn’t want to invest that much. Whether he gets it is another question. It matters that he’s not coming off a year of peak production and that’s a massive investment for a team to fork over for a player in his 30s. Even if there’s a bidding war for Hendrickson, I’m not sure his market will reach those heights. I would expect him to clear $30 million a year handily, though.
Hendrickson, 31, was selected with the No. 103 overall pick by the Saints out of Florida Atlantic in 2017. He finished his four-year rookie contract worth $3,106,288, which included a signing bonus of $706,284.
Hendrickson then signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Bengals back in 2021 and went on to appear in the Super Bowl for the team. Cincinnati signed him to a one-year extension through 2025 in 2023.
He was due a base salary of $15.8 million in the final year of his contract in 2025 when he and the team agreed to a $14 million raise to resolve a holdout.
In 2025, Hendrickson appeared in seven games for the Bengals, recording 16 total tackles, four sacks, one forced fumble and a pass deflection.
We have him included in our Top 100 – 2026 NFL Free Agents.
Hendrickson is from Apopka, Florida, went to school at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton and has an offseason home near Jacksonville, which is where he went when he was holding out from Bengals training camp last year. Florida is home for him, so it’s probably safe to connect the dots and guess he’d love to play professionally in the state.
He’s got three options but of the three, the Dolphins and Jaguars seem unlikely to be interested. Miami is rebuilding and short on cash, while the Jaguars are short on cash and have a full depth chart at edge rusher. That leaves the Buccaneers, who have a glaring need at edge rusher and have talked about how solving that need is Priority No. 1 in 2026.
Tampa Bay was unseated from the top of the NFC South after four straight division titles last year but still views itself as an aspirational contender in the NFC if it can improve on defense. Hendrickson wouldn’t have to work hard to sell himself on the Bucs as long as the contract is competitive. That’s where some challenges could come in.
The Buccaneers are 15th right now in projected effective cap space, per Over The Cap, at just $14.4 million. They have several pending free agents like WR Mike Evans, TE Cade Otton and LB Lavonte David that they’d like to keep, as well as several other starters they seem resigned to losing. There’s also a potential extension for QB Baker Mayfield that they have to be mindful of. Fitting $30 or even $40 million for Hendrickson into this puzzle would be tricky.
Still, motivated teams can find a way to make it work on the cap most of the time. Restructuring guaranteed salaries for LT Tristan Wirfs and WR Chris Godwin adds $34 million in cap space and tapping into the deals of S Antoine Winfield Jr. and DT Vita Vea could add another $20 million. The Bucs have a trump card they can play, too — no income tax in the state of Florida. That could give them a home-town edge in negotiations.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been promising that the team is willing to spend aggressively to fix a defense that legitimately ruined a year of QB Dak Prescott’s prime in 2025 and kept Dallas out of the playoffs. Jones has played this song and dance before — remember “all in” ahead of the 2024 season? — but he might actually be serious this year. He has skin in the game after piloting the Micah Parsons trade last year and needs to prove he was right.
Landing a high-caliber rusher like Hendrickson without having to give up any draft picks would be a perfect way in Jones’ mind to validate his decision. Jones talked about all the other things they could do with the money saved by not extending Parsons. By bringing in Hendrickson, he’d be getting a player who in his prime was not that far off Parsons as an impact player. Dallas is remaking almost its entire edge-rushing room this offseason with Jadeveon Clowney, Dante Fowler and Sam Williams all on expiring deals.
The two hangups to watch here are scheme and price. New Cowboys DC Christian Parker will run a 3-4 base defense and Hendrickson’s best fit is as a four-down end. The Cowboys also started this offseason in a huge salary cap hole and have just over $8 million in cap space at the moment after franchising WR George Pickens. With three defensive tackles making over $20 million a year, Dallas might not be able to get involved with Hendrickson if his salary gets crazy.
However, those shouldn’t be insurmountable obstacles. Defenses spend most of their time nickel whether they’re a 3-4 or 4-3, and no matter where Hendrickson lands a smart DC will send him after the quarterback as much as possible. The Cowboys can also add another $36 million in cap space by restructuring their defensive tackle trio, plus more via other avenues if Jones is really willing to pull out all the stops. That gives them plenty of cash to make a splash.
For a team like the Bears that was close enough to the NFC championship to smell it, finding ways to elevate that last little 10 percent or so becomes paramount. Improving the pass rush is the most common way teams try to close that gap, and the Bears were only decent in this department last year. Veteran DE Montez Sweat went on a run to finish the year and the Bears have some younger guys they hope take a step forward.
Adding a player like Hendrickson would be a big force multiplier for the whole group, though. The better a pass rusher, the more attention he draws from opposing offenses and the easier he makes assignments for his teammates. It’s why teams want to have multiple threats and employ a rotation. Sweat is a really good player but he should be more dangerous as the second-best pass rusher with Hendrickson across from him.
Chicago should check a lot of other important boxes for Hendrickson. Bears DC Dennis Allen coached Hendrickson for the first stage of his career with the Saints and runs a system that Hendrickson has had a lot of success in. Hendrickson fits the mold Allen seeks for pass rushers as well. The Bears are a contending team with an ascending star quarterback, and that helps break ties in free agency if the money is there. On that front, the Bears aren’t overflowing with spending room, but they can get aggressive in a hurry with cuts, trades or restructures if they need to.
It’s a big year for the Colts, with a clear playoffs or bust mandate from new owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon to GM Chris Ballard and HC Shane Steichen, especially Ballard who’s going on his 10th year with just one playoff win and a five-year playoff drought. They’ve got some challenges to work through, with QB Daniel Jones coming off a torn Achilles and a plethora of expiring free agents like WR Alec Pierce, DE Kwity Paye, S Nick Cross and RT Braden Smith.
The Colts have also needed to improve their pass rush for a while. Ballard has sunk a lot of resources into the edge rusher position, especially in the draft, but hasn’t had much to show for it. The last time the Colts had a player with double-digit sacks was 2019 and no one Ballard has drafted has accomplished the feat.
With the pressure mounting and no time to roll the dice on another rookie, Ballard could go for the proven option and make a run at Hendrickson. His credentials as a pass rusher are well-established. Crucially for the Colts, Hendrickson’s best years all came under current DC Lou Anarumo, who joined Indianapolis after leaving Cincinnati last year. If the Colts can find the cash, they should be right in the mix for Hendrickson.
That said, the Colts might have too many needs for the budget. They had to use the transition tag on Jones which sucked up nearly $38 million in both cash and cap space. They’re trying to re-sign Pierce but his market will be pushing $30 million a year. Hendrickson is another $30 million-plus price tag in all likelihood. If extensions for Jones and Pierce come together, the Colts can structure them in a way to add cap space, and they could restructure some other contracts. To afford Hendrickson, that’s what they might have to do.
New York likely won’t feature prominently in many Hendrickson landing spots articles, as most will expect the veteran pass rusher to seek teams that have a chance to contend for a Super Bowl in 2026. The Jets are rebuilding and are self-aware of that. But there are two things that could make the Jets an intriguing dark horse option.
The first is money. The Jets are top five in projected effective cap space this year and No. 1 in 2027. All their trades in the past six months have freed a ton of cash from their books, and a ton of good players they will be looking to replace. Every player says they want to win, but when generational money is on the table, it tends to win out. If Hendrickson gets $40 million a year, odds are it’s from a team like the Jets trying to compensate for other factors.
The second thing that could pull Hendrickson to the Jets is HC Aaron Glenn, who was an assistant for the Saints during the start of Hendrickson’s career. Glenn’s long career as a first-round pick and three-time Pro Bowler carries a lot of weight with players and the two have a lot of familiarity with each other. With Glenn taking more of an active role on defense, there are also no questions about whether Hendrickson would be a scheme fit.
I wouldn’t call a Jets/Hendrickson pairing likely. But I also wouldn’t completely dismiss the possibility.
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