NFL Insider Drops Expectation For Trey Hendrickson Resolution, Bengals Free Agency Spending

CINCINNATI — The Bengals defense could look a lot different this fall.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer certainly expects that after his latest comments on Trey Hendrickson’s future and more. He doesn’t think the star pass rusher will return, but he does think Cincinnati will make some noise in free agency.

Former Cincinnati Bearcat safeties like Bryan Cook and Coby Bryant could be strong options on the open market. He also mentioned Eagles free-agent edge rusher Jaelan Phillips as a potential target.

“I’d be pretty surprised if Hendrickson ended up back in Cincinnati next year,” Breer wrote. “The Bengals gave him a big raise, up to $29 million last year, and only got seven games out of him, and there were real questions on how much he did to push through injuries. (Particularly when juxtaposed with how maniacal Joe Burrow was in trying to return from his toe injury ahead of schedule).

“And yes, I could see the Bengals aggressively pursuing free agents on defense. Should Hendrickson depart, landing someone like Eagles free-agent Jaelan Phillips would make a lot of sense. A free-agent safety, like Seattle’s Coby Bryant or Kansas City’s Bryan Cook, would, too. We’ll see if they get the commitment from ownership to spend to add to a unit with some promising young pieces (Shemar Stewart, DJ Turner II, and Demetrius Knight Jr.).”

The thinking falls in line with comments from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Super Bowl Sunday.

“I do expect the Bengals to take his words and kind of use it to spur them on a little bit to really spend this offseason,” Rapoport said a few days ago. “Now, Burrow was clearly talking during the Pro Bowl. He likes Cincinnati, saying basically during the press conference, he kind of just had a bad day. Those are allowed sometimes, even at press conferences, but I expect the Bengals to enhance and support everything Joe Burrow does, to spend probably more on the defense than anything else.”

Cincinnati has no reason not to pursue talented defensive free agents if it’s serious about winning a title with Burrow. He’s been playing with a bottom-four defense by EPA/play and success rate allowed when combining all the snaps since the start of the 2023 season.

The greatest quarterbacks on earth can’t win with that kind of defensive ineptitude. You largely have to have competency in all three phases of the game, and Cincinnati has fallen way short on the defensive side since its last trip to the playoffs.

They have the top 10 cap space, very few needs on offense, and every incentive to spend now while Burrow’s cap hit stays largely static over the next three seasons (Maxes out at 16.32% in 2026, likely will keep falling as the salary cap continues to rise). The time is now, after a 2025 offseason spent signing internal stars. 

Check out Breer’s full piece here.