When it comes to four teams that could have interest in edge rusher help at the trade deadline, the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders all come to mind.
The Eagles, Lions and Commanders all have legitimate Super Bowl hopes in 2025. The Eagles need more juice on the edge after tallying just nine sacks in five games, and while the Lions and Commanders both rank in the top five in sacks, there is no such thing as too much pass-rush help in today's NFL.
As for the Cowboys, their defense is still licking its wounds from losing Micah Parsons and the unit has mustered up 10 sacks through five contests, and five of Dallas' sacks came last week against the putrid Jets. And, lest we forget, Dallas sports the fourth-worst scoring defense in the league.
NFL Spin Zone's Sayre Bedinger believes Cincinnati Bengals star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson could become available at the trade deadline and thinks all four of the aforementioned teams may have interest if that happens.
Here's what Bedinger wrote on Hendrickson's potential availability.
And if the season is lost for the Bengals, nobody on their roster makes more sense to be traded than Hendrickson. The star pass rusher is past the age of 30 and is a free agent after this season. The Bengals could get better value from an in-season trade than via compensatory pick, and teams would be lined up to make an offer if he's made available.
Possible landing spots: Cowboys, Commanders, Eagles, Patriots, Panthers, Lions
The Bengals are in a precarious spot right now thanks to the injury to Joe Burrow, which is expected to sideline him until at least mid-December.
Jake Browning was awful in three starts, all of which resulted in losses, and now the team is turning to 40-year-old Joe Flacco, who was awful in his own right over his three starts in Cleveland before being benched and then traded to Cincinnati.
It is quite conceivable that things will keep going south for the Bengals and that may lead to Cincinnati being a seller at the deadline.
It's no secret Hendrickson is not happy with the Bengals after the two sides failed to get a contract extension done. The four-time Pro Bowler made that quite clear on several occasions throughout the offseason.
The star edge rusher, who had more sacks than anyone in the NFL the past two seasons with 35, settled for a revised contract that pays him $29 million and puts Hendrickson on track to be a free agent in 2026.
If the Bengals fall out of playoff contention, trading Hendrickson makes sense before he potentially leaves for nothing next year.
Given Howie Roseman's aggressiveness and the team's struggles to get to the quarterback, you have to think the Eagles are the most likely team to pull off a blockbuster trade for Hendrickson.
The Lions could use another edge rusher given the fact that they are starting Al-Quadin Muhammad opposite Aidan Hutchinson while Marcus Davenport is hurt (again), but general manager Brad Holmes has seemed allergic to adding any semblance of significant edge rusher help this year, which is a shame.
The Commanders are clearly all in on 2025, so we would not be shocked to see Adam Peters pull the trigger on such a move.
Don't rule out Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, either, as Dallas' owner needs to make a splash to try and offset at least some of the hate he's getting for trading Parsons.
Not only does Dallas have the draft capital for such a move, the team now has the funds to extend Hendrickson now that Parsons won't be eating up a huge chunk of the team's salary cap.
More NFL News
- Jets' Breece Hall makes stance on trade rumors clear
- Miles Sanders injury update is huge news for Jaydon Blue
- Steelers insider offers bad news for Roman Wilson's role
- Ex-NFL GM kicks off Maxx Crosby trade speculation with proposal
- Kevin Stefanski announces Browns backup quarterback decision