Colts Acquire Bengals' Superstar Pass Rusher in Recent Trade Idea

One of the most captivating stories of the NFL offseason has been the Cincinnati Bengals’ contract dispute with Trey Hendrickson. 

The star pass rusher was reportedly promised an extension if he continued his stellar play last season, which he did by recording 17.5 sacks for the second straight year.

However, now that the rubber has met the road, the Bengals are playing hardball and refuse to pay the Defensive Player of the Year finalist what he deserves. 

This has led to Hendrickson being absent from mandatory minicamp and requesting a trade from the team.

This is the second straight year that the former New Orleans Saint has requested a trade and although Cincinnati has been unwilling to engage in trade talks so far, he has a few potential suitors.

 

One of the most obvious potential landing spots is the Indianapolis Colts who are in desperate need of pass rush help. 

The team was in the bottom quarter of the league with just 36 team sacks last season, so Hendrickson would be an instant boost.

Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report listed a few three-team trades that would shake up the NFL and one of them included the Bengals star making the move to Indianapolis.

“Hendrickson can pair with last year's first-round pick, Laiatu Latu, while this year's second-round selection, JT Tuimoloau, can be the team's long-term rotational option. DeForest Buckner remains an outstanding interior defender, but he's been somewhat banged up the last couple of seasons and his interior pass-rush production dipped last year,” he said.

The only negative aspect of this trade for the Colts would be having to move on from Buckner. 

He has been one of the premier interior defenders in the league for a long time and it may be counterintuitive to move on from him to bring in another star pass rusher.

There may be alternate routes to acquiring Hendrickson, so Indianapolis would need to weigh whether it makes sense to add one of the best pass rushers in the league while simultaneously giving one away.