It might seem hard to believe but the Cincinnati Bengals got a lot of flack for signing Trey Hendrickson in free agency in the 2021 offseason instead of re-signing Carl Lawson.
Hendrickson was coming off what many dubbed as a potential one-hit wonder season with the Saints in 2020 while Lawson led the Bengals in sacks in a really depressing 2020 season that led to them getting the No. 1 overall pick.
Well, Hendrickson has proven that he was absolutely worth signing. The guy is used to winning, dating back to his four years with the Saints. Dan Hoard tweeted an interesting fact from Geoff Hobson that notes that Hendrickson has won a division title in each of his six years in the NFL.
I didn't realize it until reading @GeoffHobsonCin that Trey Hendrickson is 6-for-6 in winning division titles in his NFL career (4X with Saints, 2X with Bengals). Including playoffs, his teams are 77-31 (.713) in his career.#RuleTheJungle
— Dan Hoard (@Dan_Hoard) January 10, 2023
Trey Hendrickson has been worth every penny.
Hendrickson was a third-round pick by the Saints in 2017 our of Florida Atlantic but didn't become a game-changer until his fourth and final season in New Orleans. That year saw him tally 13.5 sacks and set the stage for him to make big money in free agency.
The Bengals shocked some people by signing Hendrickson instead of bringing back Lawson but they clearly made the right decision. The former Saint had 14.0 sacks during his inaugural season in Cincinnati and totaled 8.0 sacks in 2022.
In comparison, Lawson signed with the Jets and missed all of 2021 due to injury. This season he started all 17 games and had 7.0 sacks, proving that he is still an impact player but there's no doubt that the Bengals made the right call with Hendrickson. He's been a beast.