{"id":789961,"date":"2026-03-03T21:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789961\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:52:15","slug":"new-england-patriots-interested-in-star-free-agent-from-cincinnati","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/789961\/","title":{"rendered":"New England Patriots Interested in Star Free Agent from Cincinnati"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/new-england-patriots\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">New England Patriots<\/a> know they have to make big moves during the NFL offseason, despite making the Super Bowl. New England has needs on its offensive and defensive lines, while looking for a wide receiver to lead the room. However, the Patriots have specifically been linked to an elite pass rusher in NFL free agency.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots are interested in signing star free agent pass rusher <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/trey-hendrickson\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Trey Hendrickson<\/a> after the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/cincinnati-bengals\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> didn\u2019t give him the franchise tag, as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bymarkdaniels\/status\/2028919685018730800?s=46\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">reported by MassLive\u2019s Mark Daniels<\/a>. However, the it would have to be the right price for Hendrickson to end up in New England this offseason, as the organization wants flexibility for other moves as well.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last three seasons, Hendrickson has been one of the best edge rushers in NFL. Despite a four-sack season in 2025, the 31-year-old defensive end had 17.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024. Hendrickson figures to receive a very big contract in NFL free agency, as players of his caliber typically don\u2019t enter the market.<\/p>\n<p>New England needs edge rushers to bolster the defense going into the 2026-27 NFL season. <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/tag\/milton-williams\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Milton Williams<\/a> and Christian Barmore were the leaders of the defensive line on the interior, but the exterior struggled to sack the quarterback. There wouldn\u2019t be a better option than Hendrickson to address that issue.<\/p>\n<p>While it may seem like a long shot, the Patriots signing Hendrickson would bring an already great defense to elite status. New England will be in the market for multiple edge rushers in free agency and the NFL draft, but Hendrickson would help alleviate that need. After all, the Patriots know what an elite defense can do to an offensive line, and Hendrickson would be an outstanding addition.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/nfl\/maxx-crosby-wants-trade-to-new-england-patriots\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Read More: Pro Bowl Defender Reportedly Wants Trade to New England Patriots<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img alt=\"avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/890c5868b73e0b3eb0ba5d30aab6dd9b9c27bf6d7cbaaede74bc35673fba816a.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-70 photo\" height=\"70\" width=\"70\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tAustin  Konenski  is  a  sports  writer  at  Sportsnaut,  covering  the  NHL,  MLB,  NFL,  NBA,  and  College  Football.  His  work  &#8230; More about <a class=\"more-bio\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsnaut.com\/author\/austink2020heat\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Austin Konenski<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots know they have to make big moves during the NFL offseason, despite making the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[256,7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,1503],"class_list":{"0":"post-789961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-england","11":"tag-new-england-patriots","12":"tag-newengland","13":"tag-newenglandpatriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-patriots","16":"tag-trey-hendrickson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116167466278694012","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789961","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=789961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}