March 4, 2026, 4:28 p.m. ET
The shortlist for possible Trey Hendrickson free-agency destinations after his departure from the Cincinnati Bengals is, well, short.
The most obvious one is simple: The Indianapolis Colts.
But ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently floated one nobody else has seemed to mention yet.
Schefter, talking about Hendrickson’s market after the Bengals didn’t franchise tag him, surprised by bringing up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Here’s what Schefter said on Pardon My Take, courtesy of Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times:
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“I think that he would love to be in Tampa. I think he would love to be in Tampa. He lives in Ponte Verde. I don’t think the Jaguars have the requisite cap room for him. Tampa would be a great fit. I think in a perfect world, Trey would like to stay in Florida. No state income tax. But, he’s also open to going to the best possible situation. If Trey has a pick, I think he’d like to end up (with the Bucs) but we will see if it works out that way.”
On the chance Hendrickson bounces all the way back and finds his All-Pro form again, the Bengals would probably prefer if he landed in the NFC.
Then again, if he signs with the Buccaneers, the Bengals would have to line up against him next year anyway.
One place Hendrickson won’t go? Back to Cincinnati. He didn’t even wait until free agency started to issue his farewell message to Bengals fans.
The Bengals weren’t interested in paying the $30.2 million tag and seeing if his reps would play ball on a trade, not to mention the risk of other teams not even wanting to do a deal.