Could the Bengals still trade Hendrickson?
This offseason has been busy for the Cincinnati Bengals. They went through a coordinator search and negotiated deals to keep their top two receivers in the Queen City.
Now, they are turning their attention to trying to strike a deal with defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
The last few weeks have been filled with talks of the negotiation stalling, leaving the fanbase and the NFL really trying to figure out where this thing eventually goes.
According to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, the Bengals are still pushing to sign their best defensive player.
On an appearance with The Pat McAfee Show, Rapoport spoke about the Bengals’ desire to retain Hendrickson.
“Yeah, it’s a little messy,” Rapoport said. ”I believe the Bengals would like to keep him and pay him and make it work. They are not in the business of letting good players go, so even when they granted him permission to seek a trade, I believe their best option was to sign him and pay him. We’ll see if that happens. I still think it is very, very possible. And if that happens, despite all the mess, it’ll be a really, really good offseason in Cincinnati.”
However, Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline painted a much different picture in his own Hendrickson update, suggesting a trade was still very much in play if the Bengals spend their first-round pick on an edge rusher.
“Many tell me the Bengals will do exactly that. Take an edge rusher with the 17th pick, and then trade Trey Hendrickson on draft weekend or soon after the seven rounds are completed,” Pauline said.
There seems to still be a long way to go in these talks, but let’s hope the front office can get an extension done and not be forced into trading one of their four best players.
Signing Hendrickson to a long-term extension would put this team in a great position to make a championship run in the coming seasons.
Now we wait and see.