The Cincinnati Bengals paid Trey Hendrickson like a top defensive end, and so far he has played like one.
Through five games, Hendrickson already has 4.5 sacks, which is good for tenth in the NFL. Hendrickson has more sacks than Joey Bosa, Aaron Donald, and Shaq Barrett.
Last season was Hendrickson’s only season as a starter. Before then, he only had 6.5 sacks, six tackles for loss, and 18 quarterback hits in 30 games. In 2020, he started 15 games and had 13.5 sacks, 12 TFLs and 25 QB hits.
It was deemed risky to pay Hendrickson the way the Bengals did with only one year of solid production on his resume.