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Bengals listening to Trey Hendrickson trade offers: Revisiting potential landing spots for star pass rusher

For the second time in 2025, Trey Hendrickson trade speculation is heating up.

With contract talks going nowhere, the Bengals have opened their phone lines to suitors interested in Hendrickson's edge-rushing services. The price will be steep, likely requiring a team to send a young player and future draft pick in order to pry Hendrickson from Cincinnati, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday.

With this in mind, a trade might only make sense for a current title contender looking to beef up at edge rusher. Hendrickson's 35 sacks tallied over the last two seasons justify an expensive trade for immediate return. But who might feel the need to swing a deal with only two weeks left before the start of the season?

Here are seven potential trade destinations for the league's reigning sack king:

When I wrote about this matter in March, Detroit immediately came to mind as a great destination for Hendrickson. He'd have the chance to line up opposite Aidan Hutchinson and hunt quarterbacks for a team that will be a favorite to win the NFC. Five months later, I like the idea even more. Defensive tackle Alim McNeill is still on the road back from an ACL injury, Levi Onwuzurike is done for the season due to his own ACL tear, and while those are both interior players, beefing up anywhere along the front four would behoove Detroit in its first season under new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard.

With Pete Carroll in charge and Geno Smith running the show at quarterback, Las Vegas has quickly shifted toward immediate relevance. I'm very excited to watch its offense operate in 2025, but I'm just as concerned about the defense after the unit lost multiple contributors in the offseason and appears worse entering the new campaign, especially in the secondary. Yes, I know the Raiders have already allocated a total of $48.1 million to their top two edge rushers (Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce) but they still have $34 million in effective cap space for 2025, so why not explore a dream pairing of Crosby and Hendrickson? Combining the two edge-rushing forces would theoretically reduce the responsibility carried by their secondary and strengthen the unit overall, which could bring much-needed balance -- and thus, competitiveness -- to the entire team. So I ask you this, Raiders GM John Spytek: Koonce and a first-rounder for Hendrickson? Why not?

General manager Howie Roseman already swung a deal (for receiver John Metchie) in the last 48 hours and clearly isn't afraid of working out a trade he believes might benefit his team. The Eagles also lost some beef in the offseason, watching Milton Williams and Josh Sweat leave for lucrative deals elsewhere. The Bryce Huff experiment didn't work last season and 2025 is setting up as a season-long test of some of their younger rushers. It might not be the worst idea to add some proven insurance -- and reliable production -- in Hendrickson to a defense that was essential to Philly's run to a Super Bowl triumph last season.

Have you watched Hard Knocks yet? Have you felt the pressure that is weighing on Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott to finally get over the Kansas City-sized hump and reach the Super Bowl? Buffalo is undoubtedly feeling it, and while the flier it took on Joey Bosa suggests it's attacking this season as aggressively as possible, swinging a deal for Hendrickson would turn that dial to 11. Buffalo also doesn't have cap space to work with but we know two truths: First, Beane could structure an extension for Hendrickson to make it fit, and secondly, the cap is somewhat of a myth. For a team that is clearly all in on 2025, a deal for Hendrickson makes plenty of sense. Send Bosa -- not a young player, but a player who would soften the blow of losing Hendrickson -- and a first-rounder to Cincinnati for Hendrickson and push the throttle to its limit in 2025.

The Patriots spent a ton of money in 2025 and seem to be fairly confident in what they've assembled at edge rusher entering their first season under HC Mike Vrabel. Still, I can't help but feel as if Hendrickson is exactly the type of player Vrabel would want on his defense. New England has plenty of remaining cap space to fill with an extension for Hendrickson and would undoubtedly benefit from his addition. Plus, it seems as if the Patriots are very eager to move on from safety Kyle Dugger, a player they could easily toss into a trade that also includes a first- or second-round pick, selections New England exec Eliot Wolf told reporters on Monday the Patriots wouldn't mind parting with for the right addition.

On its face, this pairing seems absurd. Atlanta just spent two first-round picks on edge rushers in April; why would it give up a young player and an asset for a 30-year-old at the same position? Well, I can provide a simple explanation: production. It's nice to invest in young players but such picks are more aspirational than dependable, and the current regime doesn't have quite enough leash to subsist solely on dreams, not after its expensive gamble on Kirk Cousins flopped last year. The Falcons need a proven veteran to chase quarterbacks; it's why they traded for Matt Judon last season. Cap space is an issue and would require creative accounting to fit an extension for Hendrickson into their books, but when leadership duos start to feel the heat, future spending matters less (right, Bill O'Brien?). And in an NFC South that includes Baker Mayfield and Bryce Young, Atlanta needs a hunter. The capital required to pry Hendrickson from Cincinnati might present another hurdle, given the fact the Falcons traded their 2026 first-rounder to draft James Pearce Jr.. But where there's a will, there's a trade.

Carolina traded away Brian Burns a year ago, lost defensive tackle Derrick Brown to a season-ending injury after one game and paid the price for it, finishing dead last in yards allowed per game, QB pressure percentage (25.5) and 29th in sacks per pass attempt in 2024. Brown returns in 2025, and while I love D.J. Wonnum, Carolina simply needs more punch along its defensive front. I'm not quite sure who the Bengals would want the Panthers to send them, but the first-round pick that would be required sure projects to be valuable, given most don't expect the Panthers to be a playoff contender in 2025. 

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