3. Trey Hendrickson
There’s no doubt that Trey Hendrickson will go down as one of the best Bengals’ free-agent acquisitions and he earned that right after just one year with his new team. Hendrickson set the Bengals’ single-season sack record with his 14 sacks during the 2021 season and took a pass rush that was last in the league to a hell of a lot more impressive last year.
Hendrickson only missed one game last year and it came in the final week of the season when the team was resting their starters. Out of the 16 games Hendrickson appeared in during the 2021 season, there were only three games where he failed to record even half a sack.
While the Bengals will get Joseph Ossai back from injury this year and also added Zach Carter in the draft, losing Hendrickson would be a tremendous blow to their pass rush. His addition last year proved that one player can make a difference to a unit and even with newcomers joining the team, Hendrickson is the most important player on the defensive line.
If Cincinnati were to lose Hendrickson, their pass rush would suffer tremendously. Hopefully, he can stay healthy throughout the 2022 season.