The Cincinnati Bengals squandered an opportunity to potentially take control of the AFC North with their Week 8 loss to the Jets. That means that, at 3-5, some might paint them as sellers ahead of next week's trade deadline.
A name that will continue to float around the "possible trade candidate" universe is star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. It doesn't seem to matter that the Bengals aren't the kind of team to make big trades or that they're only a few games out of first place in the division, there are still people predicting the Bengals will send Hendrickson elsewhere before the deadline.
The latest to do this is Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report, who boldly predicted that Cincinnati would trade Hendrickson to the Detroit Lions. The trade partner makes sense considering the Lions' need for additional pass rushing help but the Bengals just don't make these trades. That being said, here's what Gagnon had to say on the matter.
"The Bengals haven't been able to work out a long-term deal with Hendrickson for some time, and they could decide to cut bait now. Meanwhile, the Lions have been looking for another pass-rushing option to complement Aidan Hutchinson for about the same length of time."
Bleacher Report predicts that Bengals will trade Trey Hendrickson to Lions
As for why he considers this trade to be a bold one, Gagnon cited that the Bengals aren't competitive and haven't been seeing eye-to-eye with Hendrickson in contract negotiations. I mean, that is fair.
"While this alone might not classify Cincinnati as a full-on 'seller,' it's somewhat of an admission that the team isn't overly competitive at the moment, as well as an admission that it needs to move on from Hendrickson following an arduous offseason of contract negotiations."
If the Bengals were to move on from Hendrickson, and that's a big if, it's going to take a team being willing to part with their first-round pick. Gagnon has the Lions giving up a Day 2 pick here and that is not something the Bengals are going to agree to, even if Hendrickson is a free agent after this year.
In the event that Cincinnati had suffered a few more losses to this point of the season, then maybe -- MAYBE -- there'd be a more realistic chance of this happening. Even then, though, it feels like Hendrickson would stay put. Don't put much stock into these kind of speculative pieces, Bengals fans.
A Hendrickson trade would be even harder now that Aidan Hutchinson just signed a huge contract extension. Whatever Detroit would give up compensation-wise could be a waste if Hendrickson chooses to walk in free agency this coming offseason.
With Cincinnati just a few games out of first place in the division and Joe Burrow's health trending in a positive direction, the Bengals would be foolish to trade away key pieces right now.