Crafting a potential Patriots trade package for Trey Hendrickson

Crafting a potential Patriots trade package for Trey Hendrickson originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Bengals entered Week 7 on a four-game losing streak, as they’ve been without quarterback Joe Burrow. As a result, they’re also without much hope to salvage the season.

That could change, as there are plenty of wins to be had on the Cincinnati schedule even without Burrow. But if it doesn’t, the Bengals could punt on the season and sell off parts in order to build for the future.

“I would expect Trey Hendrickson to be a big-time trade target,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said on the Thursday night pregame show.

Rapoport cautioned that it would be “unlike” the Bengals to hold a “fire sale,” but if the losses pile up, they may have no choice. In the meantime, “teams are gonna call” on Hendrickson, Rapoport said.

As a refresher, the 30-year-old Hendrickson is a four-time Pro Bowler and was a First Team All-Pro last season. He recorded 17.5 sacks in 2023, and followed that up with another 17.5 sacks last year, leading the league. He’s averaged over 14 sacks per season dating back to 2020. After an extended contract dispute with the Bengals, Hendrickson agreed to a one-year deal worth $30 million this year, setting him up for a run at free agency this coming winter.

Before then, with the Bengals seemingly spiraling out of contention, he could help a team make a deep playoff run. (He missed Thursday night’s game due to injury, but Rapoport indicated the injury is not considered significant.)

As for what a package would look like to acquire the pass rusher, Rapoport said the Bengals would want:

A young player “who would help the Bengals this year and into the future.”

From a Patriots perspective, the future mid-round pick requires no thought. Done. You got it. All set. Moving on.

Coming up with that young player, though, requires a bit more evaluation.

The young untouchables

The Patriots have a young roster, but there are some players who obviously don’t warrant any discussion when it comes to trading for an edge rusher who’s playing on a one-year deal.

To wit:

That list should be self-explanatory, but one unexpected name to perhaps add to it would be rookie safety Craig Woodson. While he hasn’t confused anyone for Ronnie Lott just yet, he’s been on the field 97.8 percent of the Patriots’ defensive snaps this season, more than any other player on the team. While adding an elite pass rusher like Hendrickson could help diminish the dependence on reliable safety play, the Patriots don’t really have the depth on the back end of their secondary to be giving any pieces away.

The rookie potentials

When the Patriots drafted TreVeyon Henderson, people were excited. Ditto for Kyle Williams.

Through five weeks of their NFL careers, the results have been hard to find.

Henderson has just 148 yards and one touchdown on 41 carries, averaging 3.6 yards per attempt, and he’s caught 16 passes for 99 yards, all while struggling in pass protection.

Williams, meanwhile, has barely played, taking just 10.7 snaps per game. He’s caught two passes for 20 yards.

By no means does anyone want to give up on their NFL potential. And with three years after 2025 on their rookie deals, the Patriots would likely be unwise to trade away either. Yet given the demand from the Bengals, you’d have to imagine Cincinnati would be asking about either player — or both — in a trade discussion.

The receivers

The Patriots won’t trade away Stefon Diggs. Despite being 31 years old and still not even a year removed from tearing his ACL, Diggs has been their best skill player. He’s also not young, which would seemingly eliminate him from the Bengals’ list anyway.

As far as other young, non-rookie receivers go, the list is short: Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas.

Both are in their third years in the NFL, and both are under contract through 2026 on short money (they’re each due a $1.145 million base salary next year).

Boutte is in the midst of breaking out after an extremely slow start to his NFL career. Douglas is on a bit of an opposite track, taking a step back this year after a solid welcome to the league over the past two seasons.

Douglas did contribute with 71 yards and a touchdown (plus another 61-yard touchdown that was negated due to a fake penalty call), perhaps indicating he’s now in a position to play a role in Josh McDaniels’ system.

Yet despite the great stories of both players, and despite the lack of depth in the receiver room … the Patriots probably shouldn’t hesitate to trade away either wideout if it would be enough to land a game-changing edge rusher like Hendrickson.

The one that would hurt

In terms of impact players who are signed long-term, you’d have to imagine the Bengals would have their eye on Christian Barmore. While he plays inside instead of outside, he’s a disruptive force who certainly fits the bill as “a young player who would help the Bengals this year and into the future.”

The 26-year-old Barmore appears to be fully recovered from the blood clot issue that limited him to just two games last season. Playing alongside free-agent addition Milton Williams, Barmore is back to being a disruptor, registering 15 hurries and four QB hits in six games this season.

Barmore is in the first year of his four-year extension, which has him under contract through 2028, with a cap hit just north of $17 million next year. That cap hit rises to $23.6 million and $24.6 million in 2027 and 2028, respectively, so he’s not a cheap player. But the known control would obviously be considered an asset in any trade discussions.

The hang-up from the New England perspective would be evaluating how much better the defensive front would be if Hendrickson was added while Barmore was subtracted. The Patriots have gotten solid contributions from Khyiris Tonga on the interior, but they are certainly thin beyond that. Even a minor injury to Williams would devastate the interior of the Patriots’ defensive line if Barmore was no longer around.

Yet … that’s the name of the game when a team is trading away a star player. It often hurts both sides, and this one would fit that bill.

Don’t waste your time

The flip side of that scenario comes when people want to ship away players who are either underperforming or slightly unwanted with their current teams. That’s not worth examining.

The Bengals aren’t trading Trey Hendrickson for Kyle Dugger, Keion White, Rhamondre Stevenson or Anfernee Jennings. They’re not trading Hendrickson for all of those players.

Also, while Campbell was already mentioned as an untouchable, the entire offensive line is likely off-limits. It’s too fragile an ecosystem to mess with as Drake Maye ascends to star-quarterback status to be messing with any of the cohesion there. The lone exception could be rookie left guard Jared Wilson … but it would probably be a tough sell to Bengals fans to trade their star pass rusher for a guard.

The final result

So, if the Patriots really want to do this, there seem to be two real avenues. While they’d need to send a third or fourth-round to Cincinnati, they’d have to include a package of either:

Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas, or both, OR

There is, of course, one other alternative: a second-round pick, and then a fourth or fifth-round pick. Without much depth on the roster, trading a higher draft pick away could be more palatable for the Patriots than cutting any talent loose from the team.

(You could get crazy and start discussing a first-round pick, considering the Patriots are in line to win a lot of games this year, thus potentially moving that pick into the 20s. For now at least, that’ll stay off the table.)

Would it be worth it? Based on Mike Vrabel’s comments this week, the Patriots don’t seem eager to overextend themselves at the deadline. Yet given the relative ease of their schedule, they could be at 6-3 (or better) when that deadline rolls around, sitting among the AFC leaders and potentially looking at an earlier-than-planned postseason run to consider.

Given that Harold Landry has been maximizing his ability on the edge thus far for New England, adding a star-caliber player like Hendrickson to solidify the outside pass rush would probably be worthwhile for the Patriots … even if the cost was a bit painful to swallow.