![\"Trey](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/trey-hendrickson-cincinnati-bengals.jpg\")
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(Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> lost Trey Hendrickson in free agency as the veteran pass rusher decided to stay in the AFC North and sign with the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>. <\/p>\n Nonetheless, from the Bengals\u2019 perspective, they have to replace Hendrickson\u2019s impact on their defense. Hendrickson posted an overall PFF defensive grade\u00a0of 82.9<\/a> in 2025, ranking 13th among 115 qualified edge defenders. <\/p>\n Moreover, the former Bengals star recorded a pass-rush grade of 90.0, ranked 6th among 115 qualified edge defenders. His run-defense grade of 56.8 ranked 90th at the position.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, it was a challenging 2025 campaign for Hendrickson as his season was cut short after having core muscle surgery. He would play\u00a0only 285 snaps, generating 23 total pressures, four sacks, 14 hurries, five hits, and forcing one fumble. Against the run, the veteran only recorded nine solo tackles.<\/p>\n With this now gone from Cincinnati, FanSided\u2019s Justin Carter floated the name of Zion Young as someone the Bengals should look to draft in the second round to replace Hendrickson. <\/p>\n \u201cWith Hendrickson gone from a defense that already had plenty of holes, the Bengals are going to need some guys to step up,\u201d Carter wrote in his April 11 article<\/a>. \u201cSpecifically, 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart has to prove he was worth that investment.<\/p>\n \u201cBut adding another edge rusher in the draft should be a priority as well. I wouldn\u2019t go there at Pick No. 10 because defensive back is an even bigger concern, but when the Bengals are on the clock at Pick No. 41, taking the best available edge rusher seems like a good idea, and Missouri\u2019s Zion Young might be that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Bengals Should Be Considering Zion Young<\/p>\n Moreover, Carter noted why Young would be the ideal player for the Bengals to target this upcoming 2026 NFL<\/a> Draft to replace Hendrickson. <\/p>\n \u201cYoung is built to be an NFL edge rusher as far as his physical build goes, though he has to work on getting off the line faster to ensure he can get into the backfield and get to the quarterback,\u201d Carter added.<\/p>\n Ravens HC Doesn\u2019t Hold Back on Signing Trey Hendrickson<\/p>\n With the Bengals opting to let Hendrickson walk, the Ravens swooped in to keep him in the division, and Baltimore head coach Jesse Minter is more than glad with Cincinnati\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cTrey is a closer. I mean, he\u2019s a guy that has the second-most sacks in the fourth quarter of games since 2021,\u201d Minter said (h\/t\u00a0NFL.com<\/a>). \u201cThat\u2019s an area where we want to improve and want to finish out games when we have the lead. We\u2019ve had more leads in the fourth quarter than any team in the last five years. So, getting a guy like that will help our pass rush, help the defensive backs,\u00a0rushing\u00a0coverage work together.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, when you add a primary premium pass rusher, it makes everybody else\u2019s job on the defense easier at times. He\u2019s gonna draw a lot of attention. I think our pass rush in general is gonna be a lot better, because other people may have more one-on-one opportunities. And then the DBs, you know, when you don\u2019t have to cover as long, it makes life easier. We couldn\u2019t be more excited to add Trey.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bengals\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images) The Cincinnati Bengals lost Trey Hendrickson in free agency as the veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-864262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116388211570367549","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864262","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=864262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}