Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Do the Bengals have good alternatives to extending Trey Hendrickson?

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

It's tough to find good alternative plans for the Bengals that don't involve keeping their stars, and today we turn our focus to the case for trading Trey Hendrickson. Jake Liscow and James Rapien start by breaking down some of the arguments in favor of trading Hendrickson and some of the flaws in those arguments before diving into what the extension could look like, and what contract  demands could lead to exploring a trade. We finish with free agent and trade combinations could hypothetically improve the team if they don't get the extension done.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last week, we had a hard time finding good alternatives to resigning T. Higgins. What about alternatives to extending Trey Hendrickson? Let's break it down. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liscoe. He's your host, James Rapine, and we are Locked on the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day. For those of you who are new to the show, we've been covering the Bengals for, well, a pretty dang long time. Now, doing this show together for five years, and both of us have done the podcast independently before that for more years. And so you're in the right place if you're looking for a daily spot to get your Bengals fix, news analysis, everything that you need to know about the Cincinnati Bengals

in the right place to every dayers. Welcome back. You already know that. And you can find the show on YouTube or, anywhere you get your podcast. So however you need to get your fix, we're there for you. And James, today we're going to spend a whole lot of time talking about Trey Hendrickson and the decision to extend or trade him because that is the decision that he is presented with the front office despite having one year left on that contract. And the search for

alternatives will be part of today's show, but we've had a lot of people messaging us or asking us questions on social media or in the replies on YouTube comments in the last few weeks about whether it's actually worth paying Trey Hendrickson top of market money. And so we should probably start there when doing this analysis before we look at the free agency class, before we talk about some madden-esque trade ideas later in the show. Yeah, let's start there. There's certainly some questions, right? And I think part of that is, Trey Hendrickson's age. Part of it is something

that I mentioned. Like our everyday errors probably remember this during the season. After the Raiders game, a few games after that, it was like, man, Trey Hendrickson. It was Joe, Jammar, and Trey

are playing at such an elite level. How are they so bad? Right? A lot of people said that. Heck, Joe said that. And I'm like, yeah, Joe and Jammar are awesome. And then there is a gap between those two and Trey.

And, you know, that's still true. I think that's true. I also think that you can take that and say, oh, well, Trey's impact isn't worth paying him at 30 years old. And I think that's where some people are. They look at the impact. They look at the when some of these sacks occurred.

The fact that this Bengals defense didn't get off the field in key moments in all of those one score losses, seven of their eight losses were by one score. And then you put it on Trey. And I don't necessarily agree with that, but I do think there are people that, and who knows, maybe some of them are within the Bengals organization, that agree with that to a certain extent. And that's what's interesting about this is as we explore the alternatives to just signing Trey Hendrix into a long-term contract, which obviously he wants, how much do you want to go down the rabbit hole of clearly your best defensive player isn't as good as the number of. say because that's what that's doing. Not that it's wrong and you should do that, that self-evaluation. I'm not there, but I do think that there are people that are there, especially because he is 30 years old. Yeah, I think the aging concern is certainly one of the concerns. There is age-related

falloff that you could expect to see from Trey Hendrickson in the next few years, but a lot of age-related falloff or past rushers that has been discussed with aging charts, with looking at historical trends of what happens to edge rushers when they hit 30, when they hit 31, I think that when you look at players that have had the kind of success that Trey has had over the last couple of years, those numbers look different. And I went and looked at players that had 17 sacks seasons, 16 plus sack seasons when they were 30, that success, when it wasn't a one-hit wonder, because there are a number of players that come out of nowhere, and suddenly after being like three sack players for their entire NFL career, have a 15 sack season when they turn 30, and then,

return to relative obscurity and have another three-sack season. You know, but, but Trey has had this, this consistent success. And you can point out who the opposition is, but he's also played really well against Kansas City numerous times. And I know they've had tackle issues, but Pat Hulms is still hard to get on the ground. He put, he put them in the fourth and 16. Yep. Like, the reason they were in the fourth and 16 is because of Trey.

And, you know, a must win game. Yeah. And in that game, I was talking. about how Trey Hendrickson almost single-handedly won the game. And I'll not forget that, obviously, until I forget that game when my memory stops working. But he did a lot to keep the Bengals defense in that game. So did, you know, Camp Taylor Britt at the time had an awesome interception, his probably best play of the year early in that game.

But he also has performed well in the AFC North. And I know Lamar Jackson is his own thing. but people talk about he doesn't beat elite tackles is something that I've heard in the last couple of weeks. I've heard about the age thing. I looked at the age thing. If there's a little bit of age-related falloff for Trey Hendrickson, you're still talking about a really good player. He's been really good and hasn't shown those signs of age-related decline yet in four-straight really good years for the Bengals. So it depends on what he's asking for, I guess.

If you're asking for like a four-year extension, then you probably don't touch that if you're the Bengals. But when I've done the exercise, it's been a two-year extension. So we've heard about the age thing. The play against elite tackles is something that I think is true for most edge rushers in the NFL. Elite tackles are not going to give as much production against. You mentioned the one-score game thing. I don't know if you saw it in the last week. I think it was a few days ago, PFF put out a tweet.

Trey Hendrickson led the NFL in Sacks and one-score games. in 2025. And then you just consider the elephant in the room, which is he's the only guy. He's the only guy creating on that Bengals defensive line. He's the only guy with a really good pass rush win rate and is demanding a lot of attention, is getting a lot of chips.

And so if you add to that, and he's not the only guy, his job gets easier. Or he makes the job easier for the other. other pass rushers that you add around him or that you're hoping to develop around him. And they haven't had that at least for a couple of years now. They haven't had that other pass rushing presence. And I think that that's why when you look at overall pass rushing performance for the Bengals, and you think, well, Tray's not good enough.

Well, Tray is everything they have. And so we'll get to some Madden Trade ideas. Like I said much later. But I think that anything that's isolating, you know, Tray not winning in certain spots or anything like that really needs to take into account that he's doing so much of this by himself. And let's just call it what it is. He's not the best pass rush in the NFL.

He's not second. He's not third. That's okay. It's okay. He's not the best defensive end, the second best defensive end, the third best defense of end. He's not.

But that doesn't mean that he shouldn't be on your team or that he's not worth extending. Like there's a difference between saying, oh, he's not Michael Parsons, or he's not Miles Garrett to, oh, you don't pay him. Those are far and away different things. Like, oh, there are flaws in his game. He's not as versatile.

Or he doesn't tip as many balls. Or he doesn't, like, okay, what does he do? He does the thing that the Bengals signed him to do. Remember when they signed him and there were questions? It was like, oh, well, what? They were like, yeah, he gets sacks. They nailed it. Arguably, the best free agent signing in Bengals history.

Probably the best free agent signing in Bengals history. And so if you're painting the path to this defense being much improved this year, do you want to do it with Trey, where you ease him into age 31, age 32, and then probably he does sign elsewhere, I would say, as he goes into another phase of his career, and still have him on the team or go the other way. And for me, it's really tough. It's a tough sell. It isn't impossible.

I have some of those trade ideas that we'll get to. It isn't impossible to find that path. but the path is and oh well let's get up the 30th pick for trey hendricksson and that's going to to be what they should do the goal is to win right now the goal is to be in santa clara in in 12 months and and have a super bowl parade that the eagles have last friday have that here in cincinnati like that's the goal and so if that's the goal it's going to be a really hard sell uh for the for the trea hendricks and improves them in 2025 alternative path part of that has to do with free agency.

We will get to that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul. Fandle is America's number one sportsbook. And the NBA season, now that the All-Star break is over, it's a sprint to the playoffs. And all of these teams are trying to get in. And with the NBA action heating up, there's no better place to get in on all the action than Fandle,

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Just visit fandle.com to join today. That's fandle.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. We'll take a look at this free agent class in just a second, but just to reiterate, what we're talking about with Trey Hendrickson, as far as an extension,

is probably, in my mind, I don't know what he's asking for. And if he's asking for more than this, maybe it does get tricky and you start to explore some of these alternatives a little bit more seriously. but if he's looking for a, say, top five or six, Eddratcher, APY, and a two-year extension, is a two-year extension enough?

That would be my question. If he needs three years, even then I'm exploring it because the final year of defensive player, or really any player, contracts in the NFL at this point, but especially defensive players, especially the way the Bengals do contracts, is essentially a team option. And you're going to see that with a number of players of Bengals cut this offseason. The Bengals will have an option in the last year of Tray's deal, whether it's a two-year deal or a three-year deal, to decide whether or not he's still playing up to that standard. And they can make a decision at that point if they need to.

But if he continues to play well, then you just have a player under contract who's good and who you can build around. And so I don't think you're talking about over $30 million for Tray Hendrickson. that the current top paid edge rushers over $30 million. And there are going to be some guys that reset that market this year. But like you said, despite his past rushing prowess, he is not a complete player the way that some of those really top guys are. He is a top pass rusher in the NFL. I would say top five pass rusher in the NFL.

But as far as complete edge defenders, there's obviously a couple of guys that do the whole thing at a bit of a higher level than trade. And so I don't think he's quite getting to those numbers. He was just second in defensive player of the year. That well increases price tag, I think. I think there's that factor. But I don't think you're talking about anything crazy.

Like even if you're talking about two years, 27 million a year, and you're going to put 15, 17, 18 million up front and assigning bonus pro rate, I think that that is well within the risk tolerance that the Bengals should have and would be well worth it for Trey, Because it's still like that option year in the future is there if he does start to fall off. The Bengals aren't totally exposed here unless Trey totally changes in tune in terms of asking for future guaranteed money that he hasn't asked for in the previous two deals that he's agreed to with the Bengals. Yeah, I think there is a limit.

I would be really hesitant to do it. He's under contract this year, just so you know. So just for those wondering. So a three-year extension talking about the next four years, he would be under contract this long. is probably T, the, you know, a year shy of Jamar. I think a two-year deal gets it done, a two-year extension. You're right, that upfront money, that bonus money works. And he's under contract.

That does limit. I know people don't want this and they just want to try to make all the money in the world. It's still a negotiation. And that's why Duke Tobin made the comments he made last week or last month. It's like, yeah, we think he deserves a raise. But then he stopped short of saying, oh, yeah, we're going to make it the highest paid because they don't want to. And they shouldn't.

He's not deserving of that. And I think that's some people hate that because they love Trey. Fine. But unless you're the complete package where you're an elite pass rush or elite run defender on the edge can move to both sides, you do all these things. Then you're not making 30 plus million APY when you're not in free agency. And that's the other element here. What the market is is different when you have a year left on your contract versus when you're a free agent and free to go anywhere.

And that's such an important note. Like the Bengals can pay Trey Hendricks and market money, which is probably $27 million per year. And that doesn't mean that that's what he would get on the free agent market. When you're in the free agent market, everything's driven up because there's such a, a, a demand for your services, especially this year, and it's an easy way to transition to free agency. I think Trey Hendrickson would far and away be the top pass rusher if he was a free agent on the market and would get the most money out of any of these guys. And maybe the most money, period, might get more than T, probably not.

It depends on where you would think T would end up. If T ends up just at 30, T can certainly exceed that. I think T would get more if he hit free agency too. The point is, Trey doesn't have that. He has one more year left. And so do you want it to get really ugly or do you want to stay here like Joe says you do and like you say you do? Well, if so, and they offer you market money, then it should be pretty cut and dry of how they get to a path where he's here for the next few years. Just for comparison sake, as we dive into the unrestricted free agent class, the top free agent edge rusher, according to PFS rankings, just in terms of the contract they're projecting.

for Khalil Mack, who's four years older, to be fair, but still, again, another guy playing at a really high level for the last two years for the Chargers into his 30s, still a good player. He's projected to get two years, $22.5 million per year. Four years older, so that number would be higher for trade. But that is the highest projected contract for any edge rusher that PFF has. Like Chase Young, two years, 17 and a half. Malcolm Coons, two years, almost 19.

Josh Sweat, three years, 18 per year. These are all per year numbers to be totally clear about that. But this edge market in free agency doesn't have those top-end guys that are going to be pushing the top of the market. That, Trey, to your point, what if you were in free agency? But also, this is a frame of reference for those that think, oh, Trey's going to need more than $30 million. Well, I don't really think that's where the edge market is right now.

Like the top of it certainly will go there. And if Trey Hendrickson thinks he should be making what Michael Parsons is about to make this offseason or what Miles Garrett's new deal looks like, then the Bengals might have a problem there. But by every indication we've had, that doesn't seem to be what the ask is from Trey Hendrickson. No. And history says that they can find common ground. You know, I think, and by the way, his agent needs to get a deal done. It's the other factor here. his agent really screwed Trey when he agreed to that one-year extension in the during camp in

2023 and that's why Trey was unhappy last year let's be real he has 17 and a half sacks he's under contract for the next two years and he's like man I want more money this is crazy he'd be set to become a free agent right now and the Bengals would be in a much different situation and probably would have given him more money last off season to prevent this from happening and so if you're it's Harold I believe I forget his last name But if you're Trey's agent, you want to get something done. And that doesn't mean act in total desperation here, but you want to get that cash to him, especially when you look at what these other edge rushers are making.

Trey's been underpaid. He's trying to get back to market. All right, we'll get that done. Get that market value for him. Because otherwise, he's not getting to the market. He's not becoming a free agent. He's not even the best edge rusher on the trade market. That's Miles, right?

Like that's the other element here. He's not the best defensive end available. And the Browns can debate all they want. All miles isn't available. He is, and he's the big fish. And so teams that are looking for that are probably starting with 95 and then would pivot the 91. The point is that would delay things a lot. So if the Bengals are aggressive here, I don't know why.

By aggressive, I just mean offering him two for 54, like you said. I think if you get that that cash flow early on, I think that that's going to work. I really do. And at the same time, the alternative paths, did anyone that was listening or watching hear Jake say a name? Obviously, you would love Kaleo Mac and Stripes with Trey. You're not saying, oh, well, yeah, well, trade Trey and sign Kaleel Mac. That solves it. Not in the year 2025.

In 2015, absolutely. Sounds great. Kaleo Mac was like drafted in, what, 13? Something like that? Like he was about to enter his prime. So that to me would be the other element of this. It's not like you could say trade, trade, get an asset or two. And then you can sign two of these edge rushers that make a ton of sense

and are going to be long-term options as well. Yeah, when you look at the free agency class, which we should talk about in a little bit more depth here, I think. The top-end answer is just not there. Anybody that you're signing, you're not getting your lead dog on your defensive line in this free agency class, really at any position. The draft, however, seems pretty good on the defensive line. And there is this trade market. And so there are some options out there, but like you said, James, like, do they feel better when you're supplementing a couple more years of Trey Hendrickson?

Or when you're trying to win now and try to start over there? That's a lot harder. Well, we'll continue that conversation, look at these free agents and some of those mad and great ideas to finish up the show next. It's just really hard, Jake, to find. It's why Trey Hendrickson is the best, arguably the best free agent signing in team history. It's really hard to find that and find that value. And that doesn't mean they can't, but is their path to winning sooner, easier with

Trey or without Trey? And I do think that there would be some that would say, again, like, I'll just sum up kind of what we say, 30, limited, good pass rusher, not much else. AFC North, you can sign the, what were the pass rusher from the Eagles for 18 million per? Josh Sweat. Josh Sweat for 18 million per. A lot of people thought he could have been Super Bowl MVP. Sign him.

Then you get another asset. You're saving money. And you take that asset and invest it in one of these other weaknesses. And Sweat gives you 90% of what Trey gives you or 95% of what trade gives you. or 95% of what trade gives you. What would you, and you have money to add another, at a defensive tackle or add someone else, how would you feel about that?

Let's say they went that route. And it's the, all right, we're going to pay Josh Sweat, who's 28. We're going to trade Trey for the 30th pick in the draft. So you have sweat in the 30th pick in $7, $7,8 million extra to play with. What do you think? I think that that return in terms of the trade return is probably more than I would expect to get for trade. So let's start there. I don't think late first round.

I agree with you. But a lot of people do. Yeah. A lot of people are thinking first rounder. That's like best case outcome. So you get that first round pick. You're probably then spending one of your two first round picks that you now have on an edge rusher, which is fine. I think there's some edge rushers worth a first round pick.

I think the Mike Green fantasy seems to be petering out a little bit if that's who you really want, the Marshall Edge Rusher with phenomenal data and really fun tape. It looks like he's destined for the top 10 at this point. Then I would start asking questions about Josh Sweat. So I've asked questions about the return already. I would then start asking questions about Josh Sweat, who I think is a solid player.

And I like Josh Sweat as a player. And $18 million per year isn't crazy. That's pretty similar to what the Bengals did with Trey Hendrickson. four, five years ago, four years ago, 2021, when they signed him and he was coming off a career best year. It wasn't exactly a career best year for Josh Sweat, but he was more of a rotational player coming off a Super Bowl team, making big plays in that Super Bowl. But he's on a defensive line that is absolutely stacked. And so I started asking questions about guys leaving the Eagles. And that's where I go second.

And so you got another $8 million and I'm thinking, okay, where do you spend that? Are you hoping for like a bounce back kind of season from Baron Browning? Are you hoping that you can get Aziz O'Jolari to be a breakout player after there was some interest in the way he played against the Bengals when the Bengals played the Giants? And I'm out on Azizzo Jolari just to be clear, a lot of unblocked pressures for his production, a lot of unblocked sacks. And then like who else are you are you talking about? Chauncey Goulston, the non-My Carson's pass rusher in Dallas on again a pretty good defensive front in terms of pass rushing between. between Micah and Osa and DeMarcus Lawrence when he was playing a couple of games.

So looking at 30-year-old Dante Fowler, I just don't see where you're putting that $8 million if you're looking for an edge player. And that's what you're looking for instead. Versus Trey and we talked about, they have all of these resources anyway that they could go get any of those guys to be a supplemental piece. And when you're talking about one of those guys

being a rotational piece to go along with Trey and Miles Murphy and whatever else they draft or add elsewhere. It's just different. It's so different because you know you have that top end guy at least. And Trey Hendrickson's worth 10 million more than Josh Swett. That's it. That's the other else. Like, do you have any doubt?

I think Trey would get 30 plus million in free agency if he was a free agent. I'm still skeptical of that generally. Just because I don't know where the edge market is going, that would be a whole lot of players breaking 30 million at the edge rush for position that haven't been there before. but it would probably be close if it's not 30. But let's say sweat gets 18 and then Tray's at 28. Well, that's it.

It's like, do you want the quality or do you want to go the quantity route, which we've seen the Bengals get burned on because it's really hard. It's hard to get that right. Even if guys have made plays in big games and been on playoff teams and had playoff success and all of those things like you know Trey and what he brings. So replacing that's really tough to do. Finding guys that can build around him and help make his life easier on bolsterer a pass rush, I think is much, much simpler than finding a true top dog, which he clearly

still is. Before we get to the trades, do you have anything else, any other ideas? Because clearly he would be the top edge rusher and free agency. Clearly, he would have a huge market. I think he would easily get three years if he was a free agent right now, which is, if you're the Bengals, you're signing up to extend him and keep him for the next three years, I would say on a two-year extension. I do think if you could get that kind of first round return,

and your plan for free agency was then to go get Josh Sweat and Chase Young and draft a guy in the first round? Sure. I mean, we're getting into Madden territory already there, right? But you're talking about spending on a former number one pick level prospect in Chase Young, who's been a little bit disappointing in the NFL, but it still had some quality play. It's not like he's been a total bust. He's been a bust relative to his draft.

status, I think that's fair to say, but he's been a solid player. And Josh Sweat, who I do like as a player, don't get me wrong. I think he's a good player. And so you get those guys, you get Miles Murphy hoping for some development there. You maybe bring back Cam Sample. You've got Cedric Johnson in the building already. And then you draft a guy at the top there too. That's a lot of resources that you're talking about putting in there.

That's two big contracts after you traded away a big contract and a draft bet. So a lot of resources, that could work. That might be what's necessary. And then you've got to also figure out the defensive tackle position, right? Maybe 30 the pick you acquire there is your defensive tackle and you're using 17 on an edge rusher. And then you're talking about totally revamping with a ton of resources at defensive line. But it's a ton of resources. And so I think you have to consider that cost.

And it would be, there would still be questions. It can Chase Young be an every down guy. Is Miles Murphy going to be that guy? Is he going to develop? Can Josh Sweat be the got to have it, sat guy? Or is it not? Like, even in that scenario, it's like, all right, well, can they find playing time for sweat who they're paying a lot of money to Chase Young and Miles Murphy and this new

first round edge? Like, it would be a great problem to have if they all work out. But there's still, there's still some questions there. That's like what the Eagles do, right? Like you draft Walter Nolan because he's falling maybe at 30. You get James Pierce maybe at 17. That's the Eagles approach, right? You just throw all of these resources at it.

Or Mike Green, if he can. get them at 17. Sure. And there are going to be people that say do that. And fine. If you do that, but you got to get it right. And I think that's part of the equation here. And that's why, like, if I was trading Trey, I would be thinking so big that you can't get it wrong. I would be thinking, all right, I'd call Dallas. And I'd say, you know who I would love to pay? I would love to pay, Micah Parsons, $35 million per year. That's what I would love to do, find the Bengals. And somewhere Mike Brown is like, what are you serious, James?

Are you kidding me? No, I would. I would call Dallas. I would offer him 17 and Trey for Micah right now. You never know with Jerry Jones. I'd throw in a couple of McGrittles, some salt packets on the side. Only real ones will understand the joke there. But you get the point.

Is it that to me, now you're like, all right, well, the age isn't a factor. You clearly know he's a stud. that there's no harm in having a Micah Parsons, Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow Corps, go for it. So I would offer 17 and Trey Hendrickson for Micah Parsons. Dallas would probably shoot it down, but I would, that's my first one I'll throw out there. Yeah, you could throw Max Crosby into that mix as well.

I mean, the Browns would never do it, but certainly if the Browns were not in the division, you'd be talking about Miles Garrett too. The issue with those trades is probably just Tray's age, like trading in older past, rush for a younger pass rusher, yeah, even if you throw in draft capital, it's going to be a hard sell for the team acquiring that that player in that contract when they could just pay the guy they have.

What would you, what would you throw in? So, Trey for Max, are you giving 17 up? I would not. I would not do that much. I don't, I don't know. You put me on the spot for trying to pay out trade compensation. I would have to think about it longer. Myca would be 17, no brainer for me.

I might even throw in a four, honestly, because Micah is just, I mean, he's a, I mean, he's a Dude, man. He's, how old is he 25? He's definitely young. But we're talking about Madden trade ideas. 25, right? He's 25. You get why I've been referring to it this way for the entire show.

You're talking about trading for top of their game, especially Mika, like all pro-level players. Not to say the Trey isn't, he just was one, but he's older. The five-year difference is a lot in the NFL. And either way, you're paying those players. So like finding the delta in draft compensation to make those trades happen is pretty difficult. And then you're talking about, again, spending all these resources when instead you could just pay tray and then add to it with the resources that you would instead be spending on trading him, if that makes sense. Yeah. No, it does. I have one. I just have to look up the contract here.

I have another idea. This one's interesting. All right. Would you trade Trey Hendrickson for 28-year-old Quentin Nelson straight up? I don't think I would. I don't think I would. Okay. He has two years left on his contract. But the Colts connection, Lou Anirombo connection.

Yeah. Because what that does is that solves that issue. And then you can still attack, if you want to attack pass rush and free agency, you know, you do that. and you have a top of the what what is the contract that the so he signed a four year he signed a four year 80 million dollar extension he has two years left on that um they have an out this year which obviously they won't get out of his cap hit this year is 22 million cap hit next year 24 how much of that cap hit is a signing bonus so what was signing pro rate signing prorations uh all right so it was 6.2 each year okay that that knocks your cap hit down for the acquiring team six million

dollars yeah so it'd be 16 million it'd be 16 million and 18 million basically which is so so quentin nelson and then you signed josh sweat for tray hendricksson yeah that's kind of the idea there yeah and you're asking the bengals to sign top you know spent top of the market

money at guard for an elite guard so it's worth it of course yeah it's tricky I do think the bengals would look at this and say would you rather have tray if it's 30 would you rather have tray for 30 and then they would turn around to be like, would you rather have Trey for 30 or sweat for 18 and say like Dio Ode Inbo for 15?

And that's a little bit more than Trey, but it's two players, you know? Or do they just want to, yeah, or do they just want to bank on developing Miles Murphy, which is probably what they would do? I mean, Quentin Nelson is instantly the highest paid card in Bengals history in the scenario, you know? Oh, yeah. So, but I think I would do it. I think I would do it.

Don't know that the Colts would think about trading Quentin Nelson. Are they thinking about trading Quentin Nelson? I don't know. I think that's a you're deep into the Madden territory at that point. But those are the type of ideas. Like let's say things don't go well with trade negotiations. Those are the type of ideas that you like Luca Donchich got traded. Okay.

Miles Garrett should Miles Garrett should get traded. Nothing should be off limits. If you have the NFL sack leader and you're going to entertain trading him, which I would do if you can't agree to a long-term deal, then if he's dead set on three years, it's a three-year extension, I'm definitely entertaining. But it would be very targeted. It wouldn't be, oh, we'll just send me a first-round pick offer

and then you get an offer to two and a four. Like, I'm not doing it for a two and a four. I want a guy. I want a real dude. Quentin Nelson, real dude. Michael Parsons, real dude. want real dudes. Yep.

There are some alternatives that I think are more interesting. Tea and T for Justin Jefferson. There are some ideas here that are more interesting than what we talked about with T, I would say. For sure. Combining two top end edge players on the free agent market this year that are depth pieces, to be clear, not top end edge rushers, but are like top 20 edge rusher kind of players. And then adding in the draft, like you can rebuild it. I think that is interesting, but again, it's a lot of resources that you're putting all into the defensive front.

And so if that's where you want to focus all of your resources, I do think there is an alternative there that is more interesting than the T. Higgins alternatives that we couldn't really find last week when we talked about that and explored that topic. But I still think it's really hard. And the easier thing to do is to just extend Trey and then go ahead and use your ample financial resources and draft resources to bolster your defensive line when you have Trey on the Trey. Yeah, the more I think about it with the Colts one, I would, I'll throw in Jermaine Pratt, Trey and Jermaine for Quentin Nelson. There you go. I would do it. I would do that.

There you go. Let us know what you think of the comments. That's going to do it for this episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho-Day and have a good one. So you wouldn't do the Justin Jefferson deal?