Free agent rankings are being published across major platforms, and Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson is at the top of them all.

ESPN and Pro Football Focus each ranked Hendrickson the No. 1 impending free agent ahead of the 2026 league year kicking off in March. The former All-Pro recently turned 31 years old and missed most of last season due to injury, but was still a high-quality pass rusher in the full games he played.

Cincinnati was in this position last year when Tee Higgins was the top impending free agent. The Bengals tagged Higgins in order to work out a contract extension, and that came to fruition a couple weeks later. They didn’t let the player everyone else wanted leave the building.

The same treatment should not be expected for Hendrickson a year later.

Bengals are primed to let Trey Hendrickson play elsewhere in 2026

Hendrickson has been longing for another multi-year commitment from Cincinnati for some time. He’s agreed to a one-year extension and one-year pay raise over the past few years, but both sides were never able to work out a long-term extension like they originally ironed out his four-year, $60 million contract he signed the last time he was a free agent in 2021.

Since agreeing to his revised one-year, $29 million deal last August, Hendrickson has been injured for longer than he’s been healthy. The Bengals remained hesitant to guarantee future salaries of a proposed extension for the four-time Pro Bowler because of his age and durability concerns that come with it. The idea they would change their mind now is unfounded, and Hendrickson has no reason to demand otherwise on his end when he’s a little over a month away from free(dom) agency.

All signs point to this relationship ending; after five successful years marred with stretches of contentiousness. Hendrickson will play for another team in 2026, and the only way that’s changing is if Cincinnati believes it’s worth paying him another $30 million on the franchise tag fresh off a season in which he played just seven games and turned 31.

It would be shocking if that was the case. It would also be shocking to see the Bengals attempt an aggressive act with Hendrickson.

Will Cincinnati tag-and-trade Hendrickson?

This would be the best path forward for the Bengals. Placing the franchise tag on Hendrickson would allow them to work out a trade leading up to free agency, and succeeding would presumably net them compensation that can be used this year. It could be a player in return, but it would most likely be an NFL Draft pick or two coming back their way.

The key words there are “this year.” Cincinnati could receive a compensatory pick for the 2027 draft if Hendrickson signs a lucrative free-agent contract this offseason, so long as the club doesn’t sign a free agent contract of similar magnitude.

In short, the Bengals would be guaranteed to get something in return for trading Hendrickson after tagging him, and they’d be hoping they’ll get a single draft pick next year by letting him walk.

Cincinnati operates on hope, so you can guess which route will be taken.

The problem with the tag-and-trade is the swiftness of it all. The Bengals would need to place the tag on Hendrickson, then sort out if teams are interested in trading for him, then negotiate the trade all before free agency opens in a span of two weeks. If Hendrickson is still tagged and on Cincinnati’s roster when free agency opens, interested teams could then start using their salary cap space, and Hendrickson’s cap figure would also be on the Bengals’ own books, potentially impacting their own free-agency flexibility.

Hendrickson would need to be moved before that happens. This is only a problem for Cincy because the club has proven it cannot handle such tasks in a short amount of time.

Look no further than the last few years. Joe Burrow’s contract extension took the entirety of the 2023 offseason. Inking Ja’Marr Chase and Higgins were their own multi-year sagas. The Bengals even tried trading Hendrickson during separate periods last offseason and never found a price they liked.

They’re going to find it this year in just 14 days? Fat chance.

The time between the tag window opening and free agency is when Cincinnati will be trying to re-sign its own players, potentially extend one or two, and lay the groundwork for external players to target. Throwing in a tag-and-trade task on top of all of that shouldn’t be too much of an ask, but the Bengals have shown it is for them.

Prediction

Cincinnati will not do anything with Hendrickson. There won’t be any last-ditch effort to re-sign him, and while $30 million seemed like a good price to have him for another season, his 2025 campaign ending like it did erases that thought.

Because there’s at least a chance the Bengals can get a future draft pick by letting him walk, they will accept that deal instead of trying to forge their own before free agency begins. Hendrickson will sign with another team, and the cap space they save will be used on a few additions to the defense.

Cincinnati Bengals News

It sounds like the Bengals will have a chance fill a glaring need with an ideal free agent this offseason

Demario Davis would be a perfect free-agent signing for the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason.

John Sheeran