Bengals overpaid Trey Hendrickson to bolster their pass rush

Last year was not a good look for the Cincinnati Bengals‘ pass rush, ranking last in the league in sacks. To make matters worse, the Bengals lost Carl Lawson in free agency and he was their leader in sacks last year.

Cincinnati didn’t sit back and let their pass rush take a massive blow without doing anything though, as they signed former Saints pass rusher Trey Hendrickson over the offseason. The Bengals inked Hendrickson to a four-year deal worth $60 million and it’s a lot of money to dish out to a guy who, to this point, was a one-season wonder.

This is why Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report listed Hendrickson as the Bengals’ most overpaid player. Here’s more from Knox:

"Hendrickson logged 13.5 sacks and 33 quarterback pressures for the New Orleans Saints this past season while playing only 53 percent of the defensive snaps. However, Hendrickson had 6.5 sacks in his first three seasons combined and never played more than 40 percent of the snaps in any of those seasons.Cincinnati let Carl Lawson walk for the same $15 million annually. While Lawson never had a double-digit-sack campaign with the Bengals, he produced 67 quarterback pressures over the last two years."

Hendrickson vs Lawson is a hot debate amongst Bengals fans and it’s not hard to see why. The Bengals gave Hendrickson more money than what Lawson ended up garnering from the Jets, meaning they could have retained him. As Knox mentioned, Lawson never had a double-digit sack season but he was still a force upfront during his tenure in the Queen City.

Did the Bengals overpay Trey Hendrickson?

We haven’t seen Hendrickson take a snap as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals but to dish out that much money for a guy who had one big season is a big risk. Hendrickson was spectacular for the Saints last year but can he put up similar numbers for the next four years?

The fact of the matter is that Cincinnati was desperate to improve their lousy pass rush, saw what Hendrickson did last year, and assumed he’d be the same guy in 2021 and beyond. The pass rush was bad with Lawson so the team took a chance and signed someone new rather than re-signing their best player from a season ago.

The Bengals look to have overpaid Trey Hendrickson as of now but if he puts up double-digit sacks again in 2021, fans will be okay with the contract offered to their new pass rusher.