According to multiple reports around the NFL, the Cincinnati Bengals are listening to trade offers for Trey Hendrickson. The Panthers, Browns, and, Colts have shown the most interest in their star pass rusher.
Cincinnati’s reported asking price is very high. The team wants a young defensive player (Doesn’t have to be a pass rusher.) and a 2026 first-round pick. It would be very surprising if there’s a team that meets the Bengals asking price and pays Hendrickson at the same time.
Hendrickson’s contract situation has been ongoing since the end of the 2024 season when he was promised a new contract if he played at a high-level and with where things sit right now, it appears Bengals owner Mike Brown broke his promise.
All of this led to Hendrickson requesting a trade back in March. Many teams showed interest in the reigning sack leader but the Bengals had no interest in trading him.
Then four and a half months later Hendrickson posted a photo of a Florida highway on Instagram, indicating that contract talks were not going well. While he was in Florida skipping camp, he racked up $50,000 in fines.
Then a week later Hendrickson was present at camp hoping that his presence could lead to an extension. However, the day prior, Owner Mike Brown stated:
“We aren’t going to trade Trey. We’re working to get Trey signed as we speak.”
Soon after his former teammate, linebacker Manti Te’o said on ‘Good Morning Football’ that the Bengals offer was ‘atrociously low.’ The guarantees of the deal is why Hendrickson hasn’t signed yet. Cincinnati has offered just one year of guarantees while other edge rushers like Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt were offered three.
Manti's take 👀@Sara_Walsh https://t.co/JJn2TtzvcS pic.twitter.com/v82XDEB8ae
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) July 22, 2025
Last Week CBS Sports asked Hendrickson if he was more or less optimistic about getting a deal done.
“I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself on that.”
That response was definitely not encouraging, neither did it mean that things were getting any better. In fact, he also said that contract talks were exactly the same from early June to late July.
This doesn’t make sense. Why now? Why are the Bengals listening to trade offers two weeks before the season starts? The timing of this whole situation doesn’t make sense. Without Hendrickson Cincinnati doesn’t stand a chance on the defensive side. Last season, the Bengals defense with his presence had a 34.2% pressure rate, which is average. Without him, the Bengals had a 21.2% pressure rate. That dropped a whopping 13% without Hendrickson, yikes!
Cincinnati needs to get a deal done and if they don’t the Bengals could risk wasting Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins prime years and they’re going to have to spend a hefty penny to come to an agreement.
"Without him, I do not believe [the Bengals] are a playoff team."
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 18, 2025
—@DanOrlovsky7 on Trey Hendrickson 😯 pic.twitter.com/o2cJBGzC30
