When Trey Hendrickson finally got a deal he liked, the assumption was that his new $30 million contract would eat up whatever cap space was left for the Cincinnati Bengals.
However, as ESPN’s Field Yates shared in a post on Twitter, the pass rusher’s cap hit only went up by $3 million.
The Bengals were able to do that, in part, because they added a void year. Because of this, the franchise tag cost for Hendrickson would be around $34.8 million in 2026, according to CBS Sports’ John Breech.
Earlier reports suggested the tag number could be about $39 million, so shaving off several million dollars makes it likelier Hendrickson gets the tag next offseason, which may be what the Bengals prefer at this point.
Smart move for a team looking to fit another player under the cap this season. And they took advantage by signing Dalton Risner, one of the best pass-blocking guards in the league.
While the details for the contract haven’t come out yet, they should still have about $20 million of cap space available. They could use that to sign another pass rusher, like Za’Darius Smith or Jadeveon Clowney.
Or maybe they bolster a young secondary with a veteran corner like Stephon Gilmore or Asante Samuel Jr.
At any rate, the Bengals seem to have given themselves some flexibility with how they structured Hendrickson’s one-year contract. Hopefully, they can continue to add guys who can contribute immediately to a team with Super Bowl ambitions.
Watch some of Hendrickson’s best plays from the past two years, when he had 35 sacks, in the video below.
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