The NFL’s 2024 sack leader could be on the move in the coming weeks.
According to multiple reports, the Bengals have given edge rusher Trey Hendrickson permission to seek a trade.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to represent Cincinnati over the last four years,” Hendrickson said, via Adam Schefter of ESPN. “I love this city and organization. I appreciate the privilege of now being allowed to explore my options.”
Hendrickson, 30, joined the Bengals in 2021 as a free agent, signing a new deal to keep him under contract through 2025 in July 2023. After recording 17.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons, Hendrickson is in line for an extension. Having already franchise-tagged Tee Higgins with the intent to sign him to a long-term contract and Ja’Marr Chase also in line for a lucrative extension this offseason, Hendrickson is apparently the odd man out.
He’s currently due $15.8 million in base salary in 2025 with no money guaranteed. A trade would save Cincinnati $16 million against the cap.
A third-round pick in 2017, Hendrickson spent his first four seasons with New Orleans. He had a breakout season in 2020, registering 13.5 sacks after he’d had just 6.5 in his first three seasons. He has become one of the league’s best in Cincinnati, tallying 57.0 sacks per his four seasons with the club.
He’s earned a Pro Bowl berth in each of the last four seasons and was a first-team AP All-Pro for the first time in 2024. He also finished second in AP defensive player of the year voting.
While Browns star edge rusher Myles Garrett has requested a trade, Cleveland has remained steadfast in wanting to keep him. With Hendrickson now on the market, teams with a need at the position have another solid option.
The Bengals are sticking with their stated plans. For now, at least.
When they applied the franchise tag for the second straight year to receiver Tee Higgins, the Bengals reiterated their “intent” to try to sign Higgins to a long-term deal. Which means they won’t promptly trade him.
Via Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com, “multiple teams” have contacted the Bengals about a Higgins trade. The Bengals have said Higgins “remains unavailable” as they work toward a long-term deal.
On one hand, it will be very difficult for the Bengals to turn his $26.16 million for 2025 and a straight shot at 2026 free agency into a long-term deal. They’ll need to make him an offer with guarantees that extend beyond this year; the Bengals typically avoid that. Even if they’re willing to fully guarantee at least two years of compensation, the dollars will not be insubstantial. Higgins can always say, “no thanks,” take his cash for 2025, and go to the highest bidder in 2026.
On the other hand, the Bengals need to placate quarterback Joe Burrow. Even if they can’t, and ultimately won’t, make Higgins an offer he won’t refuse, the Bengals need Burrow to think they tried everything they could to get it done. They need Burrow to believe that, at the end of the day, Higgins is the one who was being unreasonable.
At this point, they can’t make it look like they want to trade him. By late April, when the draft gets rolling, the Bengals might feel differently.
In the interim, other teams could host Higgins for a visit. Even if no one will sign him to an offer sheet that, if matched, would send a pair of first-round picks to the Bengals, he’s allowed to talk to anyone (as of next Wednesday). If nothing else, such a visit could lay the foundation for the moment when the Bengals believe they can persuade Burrow that the failure to sign Higgins to a long-term deal isn’t their fault.
The dance has just started. It will continue. And Higgins has plenty of moves he can make. In the end, he can refuse all offers, stay away from the offseason program, training camp, and the preseason. He can show up just before the start of the regular season, claim his $26.16 million, and prepare to sign with any team he chooses in 2026.
If the Bengals want to keep him beyond 2025, they need to put something on the table that gets him to trade in a very attractive Plan A.
Former NFL defensive back Pacman Jones was one of our favorite PFT Live guests during Super Bowl week. So was Colorado coach Deion Sanders.
They recently got together for an episode of Deion’s Tubi show, We Got Time Today. And Jones made an eyebrow-raising claim regarding his efforts to beat the NFL’s drug-testing protocols.
“I cheated the program,” Jones said, via Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today. “Like, I was really good. People don’t know how smart I am, but like, I can say it now. I don’t play no more. But like, I’ve never used my [urine] for a [urine] test. Not one time. Not one time.” (Folks, it’s OK to use the word “piss,” if that’s the word he used. You won’t go to hell for it.)
Deion told Jones that “can’t happen today.” Jones, who spent 12 years in the NFL with the Titans, Cowboys, Bengals, and Broncos, disagreed.
“It can happen if you know what you’re doing,” Jones said. “Don’t say it can’t happen, Pop. Hey, Pop, don’t say it can’t happen.”
“The reason it can’t [is] because they go in there with you right now,” Sanders said, regarding the sample collectors. “No, no. They go in there and watch you pull out.”
“You still can get them,” Jones said.
Deion ended the conversation before Pacman could explain the workaround. In 2005, former NFL running back Onterrio Smith was caught at an airport with a “Whizzinator” — a fake penis that dispensed clean urine.
Nowadays, few care about marijuana use. As Jones said, it helps players manage pain.
“They’re giving guys opiates, pain pills, muscle relaxers,” Jones said. “You’re telling me that a guy that’s smoking THC, that it’s helping him perform more, or are you telling me is it helping his body? . . . I’m all for the weed.”
It’s currently legal for medical or recreational usage in 37 states. And while the NFL has largely decriminalized it under the substance-abuse policy, it would make more sense to tell the players, “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.”
Especially since it helps them get through the grind of a 17-week football season.
Bengals guard Jaxson Kirkland will stay in Cincinnati this year.
The Bengals have announced that they signed Kirkland to a one-year contract extension for the 2025 season.
Kirkland originally signed with the Bengals as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Washington in 2023. He spent that year on the practice squad and then made the active roster in 2024 and played in two games early in the season before suffering a season-ending biceps injury.
The 6-foot-7, 325-pound Kirkland will have to compete to earn a roster spot, but the Bengals like his potential and will give him a full offseason to show he belongs.
Sam Hubbard was born and raised in Cincinnati, played his college football at Ohio State and then was drafted by the Bengals in 2018. He’s now walking away from football and saying goodbye to the Bengals, if not to his hometown.
Hubbard announced today that he is retiring from the NFL at the age of 29.
“In my heart, I know that I gave this game, this team, and this city everything that I had,” Hubbard wrote on social media. “That is why today, with great pride, I am announcing that I am moving on from my playing career in the NFL and entering the next chapter of my life. As a kid growing up in Southwest Ohio, Cincinnati has always been, and will always be, home to my family and me. I bled orange and black before I ever put on a Bengals jersey. The journey that took me from a high school lacrosse player up 71-North to become a defensive end at The Ohio State University and back home again as a Bengals third-round pick in 2018, is something for which I am grateful for every day. From a draft pick to a starter, a 4x captain, and a guy who made a few plays along the way, we accomplished things that will never be forgotten. Breaking the 31-year playoff win drought, winning an AFC championship, back-to-back AFC North championships, a trip to the Super Bowl, and countless other memories. I woke up every day determined to give the fans something they could be proud of, cheer, and unite behind.”
Hubbard made one of the greatest plays in Bengals history two years ago when he recovered a fumble and raced 98 yards for the decisive touchdown in a 24-17 playoff win over the Ravens. But he said he hopes he’s remembered mostly as someone who made a difference to his community.
“This city gave me a purpose beyond football,” Hubbard said. “Through the Sam Hubbard Foundation, I’ve tried to lift up Cincinnati the way you’ve lifted me. Your support and the impact we have had together have shown me that community and love outweigh any trophy. Being nominated twice for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award is my proudest accomplishment.”
