Bears have reached a now or never crossroads when it comes to deciding if they should make a trade for Trey Hendrickson
Is it a move worth making?
As the Chicago Bears haggle over various roster decisions leading up to Tuesday’s cut deadline, one key worry continues to standout when looking at this potential roster in 2025.
Pass rush continues to be a legitimate concern for this team, particularly off the edge, and the issue has continued to grow over the last few days.
On Friday, the Bears confirmed that second-year edge rusher Austin Booker will “miss weeks” due to a knee injury suffered against the Buffalo Bills. In the meantime, starting edge rushers Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo looked non-existent against the Kansas City Chiefs starting offense.
To put things in perspective, Sweat and Odeyingbo each had a 0.00 pass rush win percentage on Friday while combining for just five total pressures and one QB hit.
The Bears are paying Sweat and Odeyingbo a lot of money to be impact pass rushers off the edge and what we saw on Friday was concerning to say the least, and brings us back to a familiar talking point.
Trey Hendrickson trade is a now-or-never opportunity
Cincinnati Bengals star pass rusher is still on the trade block and the two sides are still working on getting something ironed out ahead of the 2025 season.
When it comes to a potential trade, the haul might not be so bad compared to Micah Parsons, who would require a Herschel Walker-type package. NFL Insider Ian Rapoport shared on Monday teams are still reaching out about both players and the asking price teams could send for Hendrickson would be a starting level player and a third-round pick in 2026, instead of a more premium draft pick.
The problem is that the Bengals don’t want to move Hendrickson to begin with, but they also don’t want to pay him, hence the disconnect. Soon after, NFL Insider Jordan Schultz added the Bengals and Hendrickson re-started extension talks that include “unique” avenues to come to an agreement. Time is ticking on this potential option.
Parting with a starting level player and a 2nd-3rd round pick is reasonable enough for the Bears to consider to fully upgrading the edge rush. But, it’s not just the trade package. After making the deal, Chicago would then have to extend Hendrickson’s contract, much like what the front office had to do with Sweat two years ago.
If the Bears decide not to pursue this now, another team will leap at the opportunity and try to get something across before the two sides work something out. Saying the Bears hold off, Chicago will be asking a lot out of Sweat and Odeyingbo to prove they can live up to their respective price tag.
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