It’s not all bad, I guess.

After the gut-punch news the Bengals received in the form of Trey Hendrickson signing with the Baltimore Ravens, the team could receive a high compensatory pick for the loss.

Per Nick Korte of Over the Cap, Cincinnati will receive a 2027 third-round compensatory pick.

Cincinnati’s approach in free agency has long kept the compensatory pick system as part of their formula. This system also surrounds going after released players before free agency (doesn’t count against the formula) versus those who simply have their contracts expire and hit the open market (does count against the formula).

Unfortunately, the team valuing compensatory picks, even high ones, hasn’t netted more positives than letting proven veterans walk. Cincinnati’s recent track record of compensatory pick usage has been mediocre, at best.

When Andre Caldwell is at or near the top, you know it’s a bad list. Landon Johnson was decent, but he was drafted over two decades ago.

Otherwise, that’s a really poor list and doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Cincinnati made early moves in signing edge Boye Mafe and safety Bryan Cook, but has been quiet since Monday. As the onset of free agency officially commences Wednesday afternoon, more signings will be in the works. It will be interesting to see how the team approaches the rest of free agency, in the form of players with expired contracts or those who were previously released.

As for the Hendrickson saga, it concluded with even more chaos than was seen in the past two seasons. After agreeing in principle to a trade with the Raiders for Maxx Crosby, the Ravens were reportedly not comfortable with his medicals and very quickly pivoted to Hendrickson. He signed a four-year deal worth $112 million to sign with the AFC North rival, with Baltimore also receiving some flak around the league for their maneuvering.

The deal comes on the heels of two straight offseasons of contract stalemates. In 2024, Hendrickson wanted a new contract, but returned to workouts quickly after a brief holdout. Things got uglier last year with trade requests and the like, but Cincinnati did reportedly offer Hendrickson a three-year, $95 million deal late last summer, though there wasn’t an agreement.

Regardless, Cincinnati currently holds a valuable compensatory pick next year in the loss of Hendrickson. And judging by how little they’ve done in free agency since Day 1, it appears they may already be planning to keep it and not make any more big signings unless it’s someone who was a cap casualty, which does not affect the formula.