Trey Hendrickson’s Bengals Tenure May Not Be Over After All

CINCINNATI — Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson underwent season-ending core muscle surgery last month. It ended a year to forget for the All-Pro pass rusher.

Hendrickson appeared in just seven games, racking up 11 tackles and four sacks.

The star defensive end is in the final year of his contract and is scheduled to become a free agent in March. He requested a trade last offseason, before ultimately working out a re-worked one-year deal with the Bengals. Cincinnati gave him a $13 million raise, which got him back on the field in August after an offseason holdout.

Could Hendrickson re-sign with the Bengals this offseason? Is the bridge burnt after a trade request, an offseason holdout and his injury?

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor left the door cracked for Hendrickson's return on Monday.

"There's always a path," Taylor said when asked about the possibility of Hendrickson returning.

The Bengals could try to sign him to an extension this offseason or use the franchise tag on him. They used a void year this season, which means the franchise tag is a bit more reasonable. If they did use the tag on Hendrickson, he make $30.2 million, but his cap hit would be $36.7 million. He wasn't worried about the tag being a possibility in August when he agreed to a re-worked one-year deal.

"With the salaries going up and the tag also will be going up, so it's not something that I'm concerned about," Hendrickson said. "I have to focus on what the 2025 Bengals means to me. And I want to be a part of something special here. I'm vocalize that pretty early and often again I can't write my own contracts. I think we'd all, as players, love to do that. There wasn't one that I saw long-term that I would have considered. So again this compromise comes with a great amount of respect for me towards them. I'm incredibly honored and appreciative that I can play football at this level."

Unfortunately for the Bengals and for Hendrickson, the one-year deal didn't work out. What will his market be in free agency?

Hendrickson was ranked third in Sports Illustrated's free agent rankings last month. He was the top defensive player and one of two defenders in the top 10.

Watch Taylor's full comments on the state of the Bengals, Duke Tobin, Hendrickson and so much more below:

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