Duke Tobin Provides Latest Update on Trey Hendrickson's Future With Bengals

Cincinnati is assessing prospects at the 2026 NFL Combine.

Cincinnati Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin addresses the media during a press conference, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin spoke with the media at this week's 2026 NFL Combine, dropping his latest outlook on Trey Hendrickson's future with the Bengals.

The 31-year-old can get franchise tagged this cycle. Cincinnati doesn't have any other major free agent situations to worry about after using the tag on Tee Higgins last season.

Tobin discussed that scenario (to an extent) and more as Bengals fans hope Hendrickson doesn't leave the team for nothing in return. He would not reveal if Cincinnati is using the tag just yet.

"I don't throw anything off on or off the table with Trey, and we're excited about attacking this offseason," Tobin said on Tuesday. "We have resources to attack the offseason in a big way, and we want to do that in terms of how we're going to do that, how we're going to allocate our resources. You know, who is going to be on our own free agents, what are our intentions there? I'm not going to get into that right here. It's just not the time to announce that to the rest of the league."

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) waits for the final whistle before running to the locker room at the end of the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 13 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. The Steelers won 44-38. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The whole situation could be easier to figure out if Hendrickson hadn't gone through his first injury-hampered NFL season last fall.

After making four consecutive Pro Bowls, he's now coming off December core muscle surgery that limited him to four sacks in seven games. He just earned a one-year, $29 million deal from the Bengals last year after a headache-filled offseason of negotiations.

"We're going to attack it, and try to build our roster from all sources," Tobin said about this offseason. "And the draft is one of those sources. Free agency is another. Perhaps, resigning some of our impending free agents to extensions so they don't get to free agency is another way to do it. But we're going to look at all areas, and we're going to try to attack this offseason and fit our needs with the right people. And that's what our focus is, and we're excited about it because we have resources to go out and do some things."

We are a week into the tag window, which closes on March 4 at 4 p.m. ET.

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