The Bengals are playing hardball, and no one is biting.
Trey Hendrickson in an Indianapolis Colts uniform would be the cherry on top of an already productive offseason for Chris Ballard and his team. Hendrickson is coming off a career year and would be an incredibly impressive bookend on that defensive front. With DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart still clogging up the middle, teams would have less time than ever before to get the ball out against them. Anytime a team has a chance to add a 17.5 sack player who was an All-Pro and second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, it is going to immediately elevate the talent on that side of the ball. The question was never whether the Colts wanted him. The question was always at what price, and the Bengals are making matters difficult to impossible.
Hendrickson requested a trade, but that doesn’t mean the Bengals have to comply. They haven’t been unwillingly to see what they could get, but the Bengals want to keep him and are trying to compete in 2025. They have big contracts in place for their core of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins. It is a large portion of cap space to dedicate to three players, but is shows they are still intent on winning. Hendrickson can go a long way to helping on that front.
Starting the bidding at a first round pick is where most talks probably died for the Colts. Hendrickson is already 30 meaning he is turning the corner. While he still has good years left, this may be the peak before the downward turn. Additionally, he is going to want to be paid, as he should be for his talents. Danielle Hunter of the Texans just cashed in on a one-year $35.6 million extension. That is going to play a role into what Hendrickson will want. A first round pick (and maybe more), a 30-year-old player, and a massive contract. Those are things most GMs in the league would be wary of but especially someone like Ballard. At those rates, this thing is as dead as a doornail.
As much as fans would love to get Trey Hendrickson to move down the road to Indianapolis, there are plenty of reasons why he won’t be. If the Bengals hold to that high asking price, Chris Ballard won’t revisit the matter for a second. If he was the missing piece to a championship roster, the urgency might be higher. Considering where this team is, bringing him over now would be risky to moot. He would certainly make a difference, but what that difference is wouldn’t be enough. What that difference is, we will never see unless something drastically changes.
