Report: Bengals Asking For First-Round Pick And More in Trey Hendrickson Trade

CINCINNATI — The Bengals are reportedly asking for a first-round pick, plus, extra compensation in exchange for Trey Hendrickson. NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe noted the price on Wednesday as the official league year kicked off. Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer wrote in his mailbag that Cincinnati wants "at least a second-round pick for Hendrickson" in any deal.

Hendrickson is looking for a new contract closer to market rate with other elite edge rushers, a situation that usually breeds difficult to resolve in a trade with a high return and big deal needed for the player coming in.

The Bengals have instead opted to let their star defender seek a trade over paying him, for now.

"I'll end with this Trey Hendrickson, their top pass rusher, asked and was granted permission to seek a trade," Wolfe said on NFL Network. "Also checked with some teams there, and was told the asking price for Trey Hendrickson is also very high. The Bengals are asking for a first-round pick and more I was told, and teams are waiting that out and hoping that that market drops a little bit where the Bengals come down and maybe they can get that top pass rusher Trey Hendrickson from Cincinnati."

It's a high price, but a justified one for a player so important to Cincinnati's defense this decade.

Cincinnati did not sign Hendrickson, Tee Higgins, or Ja'Marr Chase before the start of the 2025 league year. The Lions were a team tied to Breer's answer on the Hendrickson trade landscape.

"I think it’s possible," Breer wrote about Hendrickson going to the Lions. "The Bengals want at least a second-round pick for him, and it’s a lot to ask, to give a 31-year-old pass rusher, regardless of how good he is, in excess of $30 million per year while forking over that type of draft capital to pry him away. The Detroit Lions are picking at the end of the round, so maybe the pick would be a little easier for them to part with, but I would question how it’d affect negotiations with Aidan Hutchinson."

The trade watch continues for Cincinnati's best pass rusher this century.

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