{"id":760311,"date":"2026-02-18T12:58:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760311\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T12:58:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:58:26","slug":"4-reasons-colts-a-landing-spot-for-bengals-free-agent-trey-hendrickson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/760311\/","title":{"rendered":"4 reasons Colts a landing spot for Bengals free agent Trey Hendrickson"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen<\/a> recently selected the “best team fits” for the top 50 free agents this offseason. The top free agent on Bowen’s list was Bengals<\/a> pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, and no surprise, the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> were named the best team fit.<\/p>\n

Along with Bowen’s analysis, in recent weeks, we’ve seen a few NFL insiders mention the Colts <\/a>when discussing Hendrickson as well.<\/p>\n

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So why is there a strong connection between the two?<\/p>\n

Improved pass rush is a need for Colts<\/a><\/p>\n

A top priority for the Colts this offseason has to be improving their pass rush, particularly at defensive end. Beyond Laiatu Latu, the pass rush production was inconsistent. Indianapolis ranked 30th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric. Their overall production numbers are fine, but in part, that’s a product of playing with so many multi-score leads through the first half of the season, which creates more pass rush opportunities.<\/p>\n

In addition to that, Samson Ebukam, Kwity Paye, and Tyquan Lewis are all free agents. Chris Ballard should use this offseason as an opportunity to reshape this unit.<\/p>\n

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Familiarity for Trey Hendrickson<\/p>\n

Hendrickson developed into one of the most disruptive pass rushers in the NFL. This includes leading the league in sacks in 2024. Much of that career success came playing under Lou Anarumo, the now-Colts’ defensive coordinator. This would also make Hendrickson’s transition to the defensive scheme in Indianapolis quite seamless.<\/p>\n

Also of note, the Colts recently hired Marion Hobby<\/a> to be their new defensive line coach. Hobby was in Cincinnati with Anarumo and Hendrickson for a few seasons.<\/p>\n

The Colts have shown interest previously<\/p>\n

Last offseason, when the\u00a0Bengals<\/a>\u00a0were potentially trading Hendrickson, the\u00a0Colts reportedly called<\/a>\u00a0Cincinnati to check in.<\/p>\n

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Colts are positioned well with the salary cap<\/p>\n

The Colts are in a good spot, salary-cap-wise, with the 13th-most cap room<\/a> of any team in the NFL, and there is the opportunity to generate more space if needed.<\/a><\/p>\n

When owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon spoke with the media after the season, she mentioned how\u00a0Ballard adapted<\/a>\u00a0his roster-building approach, which included being more aggressive.<\/p>\n

Ballard then\u00a0seemed to acknowledge<\/a>\u00a0that continuing down that path was going to be the plan this offseason.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: NFL free agency: Why Colts could pursue Bengals Trey Hendrickson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen recently selected the “best team fits” for the top 50 free agents this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[228,5422,227,2005,7,2714,2004,392,2381,4996,667,28898,14245,6,190,4993,1503,4989],"class_list":{"0":"post-760311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-chris-ballard","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-colts","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-free-agents","14":"tag-indianapolis","15":"tag-indianapolis-colts","16":"tag-indianapoliscolts","17":"tag-kwity-paye","18":"tag-laiatu-latu","19":"tag-marion-hobby","20":"tag-matt-bowen","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-pass-rusher","23":"tag-samson-ebukam","24":"tag-trey-hendrickson","25":"tag-tyquan-lewis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116091755326595446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}