After months of negotiations with no resolution, the Cincinnati Bengals are officially shopping Pro-Bowl edge rusher Trey Hendrickson on the trade market. With ample resources to take a big swing, the LA Chargers are naturally a speculated fit for the star pass rusher.
Even though the team has no interest in paying him, the Bengals won't let Hendrickson go for cheap. Cincinnati is reportedly asking for a young player along with a 2026 first-round pick. That may be too tall of an order to pull off, but the Bengals are shooting for it anyway.
There aren't many teams in the league that have the resources to not only trade for Hendrickson, but to give him a new contract as well. The Chargers are actually one of those teams, and outside of draft capital and salary-cap space, they have exactly what the Bengals want: Tuli Tuipulotu.
Just because the Chargers have what the Bengals want, though, does not mean the team should make a trade.
Tuli Tuipulotu is the key to a Trey Hendrickson trade, but the Chargers must stand strong
It makes all the sense in the world for the Bengals to make this trade on paper. The team would land a future first-round pick (that would likely land in the 20s, if not the 30s) and would also land a cost-controlled edge rusher with a ton of potential.
Chargers fans have watched Tuipulotu blossom in his two years as a pro with many expecting a break out in his first season as a starter. Tuipulotu will barely be 23 when the 2025 season starts, showcasing that the sky really is the limit for the former Trojan.
But that is exactly why the Chargers should stay away from trading their 2023 second-round pick. While Tuipulotu may not be as good as Hendrickson in 2025, he is bound to take a leap and close the gap. That gap between the two edge rushers is not worth an additional first-round pick.
This is something the Bengals will quickly learn as they shop Hendrickson around for the absurdly high price. The audacity to not want to pay the player but then ask for a premium trade return is hilarious and will expose the Bengals' fraudulent line of thinking.
Three years ago, the Chargers traded a second and sixth-round pick to the Chicago Bears for Khalil Mack, who was one year older than Hendrickson is now. Granted, Mack wasn't coming off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons, but he was an established force with an All-Pro ceiling. He also didn't have any contract concerns.
It's not an apples-to-apples situation, but it's hard to imagine the Bengals getting far more than the Bears got for Mack just three years ago. The first-round pick talk should be thrown out the window, and quite frankly, so should any idea of the Bengals landing a young player as special as Tuipulotu.
Don't be surprised if NFL talking heads continue to circle the Chargers as a potential landing spot for Hendrickson because of the team's flexibility, and more importantly, the fact that Tuipulotu is on the roster. The Bolts are an easy team to circle, but it doesn't make a trade any more realistic.
Now if the Bengals want to significantly lower the price... well that's a different conversation.