OK so the paraphrased Winston Churchill quote in the headline isn't 100% precise, but neither are the Cincinnati Bengals' inferred intentions regarding superstar pass rusher Trey Hendrickson.
Bengals fans' feelings toward Duke Tobin, Mike Brown, the Blackburns, and the front office on the matter could be encapsulated via this iconic quote from Ryan Gosling's Noah Calhoun in The Notebook: "WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"
I'm sick of this entire S-tier S-show of a saga. Aren't y'all?
Bengals front office playing with fire as they mull placing franchise tag on Trey Hendrickson
NFL Media's Mike Garafolo reported on Super Bowl Sunday that the Bengals are still toying with the possibility of placing the franchise tag on Trey Hendrickson. Garafolo elaborated a little further, too:
"Could it be a tag-and-trade possibility? Perhaps. Sounds like all options are on the table for Hendrickson right now, but it is not a foregone conclusion that his time in Cincinnati is over."
The Insiders on @NFLGameDay with @TomPelissero, @MikeGarafolo, and @JudyBattista: #Colts plan to open talks for Daniel Jones; #Bengals could franchise tag Trey Hendrickson; #Giants QB Russell Wilson’s future; #Cowboys will tag George Pickens, but could trade him. pic.twitter.com/R5lcNyorZY
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 8, 2026
Here's the thing. February 17 through March 3 is the window for Cincinnati to slap the franchise tag on Hendrickson. This could be of the non-exclusive or exclusive variety.
If it's the non-exclusive franchise tag (most likely/common), Hendrickson is free to negotiate with other teams. The Bengals have the right to match any contract offer another suitor puts up. If they decline to match, they'd receive two first-round picks as compensation.
No team is giving up two first-rounders for Hendrickson. Cincinnati has zero leverage there. An exclusive franchise tag would prohibit Hendrickson from negotiating with other teams, tying him to the Bengals for the 2026 season.
That'd be unnecessarily dramatic, but I wouldn't put it past this Bengals [galaxy] brain trust.
Whatever type of franchise tag it is, Hendrickson must be traded. And quickly, if that's the course of action Cincinnati decides to take. Because according to OverTheCap.com, the Bengals are projected to have $54.5 million in salary cap space to work with this year. Here's the cost of the franchise tag, per ESPN's Adam Schefter:
A franchise tag for Trey Hendrickson in 2026 would cost the Bengals about $34.8 million. https://t.co/orGoaP7fyR
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 27, 2025
My wildest (read: modestly ambitious) dreams for the Bengals' offseason will not come close to coming true if Hendrickson is eating up that much cap. Not that I dislike the idea of Hendrickson in Cincinnati, but let's face it, he has been low-balled at every turn for multiple years. This is what the team does. By now, the bridge has been burned on both sides.
Coming off an injury-riddled 2025 campaign, the price tag for Hendrickson is going to drop despite his prior back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons. The franchise tag does compensate him handsomely for the upcoming season, yet it also makes Hendrickson a less-attractive trade candidate.
Do you see how many problems tagging Hendrickson would create? Not the most cutting-edge of minds calling the personnel shots at 1 Paycor Stadium.
The Bengals don't want him at that price. They know it. Hendrickson knows it. Any trade suitor knows it. And any trade suitor would rather not give up any draft or player compensation to sign him to a less-costly deal on the open market.
This is another offseason headache waiting to happen. I personally don't trust the Bengals to trade Hendrickson in time before that exorbitant franchise tag cost hamstrings their efforts to bolster the roster via free agency.
Funnily enough, Cincinnati could spend about $45 million to nab three starting upgrades at every level of the defense in lieu of landing the disgruntled Hendrickson's services for another year. The team could free up that amount of money almost down to the dollar by restructuring the contracts of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
Will the Bengals do such things? Of course not, if history is any indication.
I love me some Trey Hendrickson. It's not worth keeping him around in an unhappy marriage when the Bengals could spend that valuable currency elsewhere.
Just wish there was a clearer plan here. An obvious endgame. The only endgame the Bengals seem interested in is dragging out another dramatic episode of their seasons-long Hendrickson soap opera.