If the Detroit Lions want to improve their chances of obtaining the first Super Bowl victory in franchise history, the team must improve its group of edge rushers.
Detroit has a strong foundation at the position with Aidan Hutchinson, but there is not much beyond him. The Lions cut Za’Darius Smith earlier this offseason and re-signed Marcus Davenport, but as we’ve seen time and time again, Davenport can’t be relied upon for a big role due to his injury issues.
Lions fans have been hoping for a massive splash addition, and Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox has an idea. He proposes a trade that lands the Lions Cincinnati Bengals superstar edge rusher, Trey Hendrickson.
Knox’s proposal sees the Lions give up a 2025 first-round pick in exchange for the four-time Pro Bowler and a 2025 second-round pick.
“For the Lions, pairing Hendrickson (17.5 sacks in 2024) with Hutchinson (11.5 sacks in 2023) would provide one of the league’s top pass-rushing duos,” Knox explained. “Paying Hendrickson would be feasible, as Detroit has $43 million in cap space available.”
Hendrickson and the Bengals have been working on a contract extension for quite some time now, but the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement. That reality led to the Bengals giving Hendrickson permission to seek a trade.
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Things may have taken a turn for the worse recently, when Hendrickson expressed his frustration with what he considers poor communication from the team.
“Communication has been poor over the last couple months,” Hendrickson said. “They have not communicated with my agent directly. It’s been something that’s been a little bit frustrating.”
It goes without saying just how big of an addition Hendrickson would be. Having a duo of Hutchinson and Hendrickson, who led the NFL in sacks last season, would greatly improve Detroit’s Super Bowl chances.
However, we wouldn’t hold our breath for such a move. After all, general manager Brad Holmes recently admitted that the team parted ways with Smith because it couldn’t afford the $11 million or so he was set to make in 2025.
“It was an amicable decision,” Holmes said. “We couldn’t afford it is the bottom line… That was my communication with him and he understood that.”
It’s true the Lions have $42 million in cap space, but Holmes is looking ahead to the reality that he’ll have to shell out big money for some of the team’s stars, like Hutchinson and safety Kerby Joseph, for example.
If the Lions couldn’t fit Smith’s money in, they won’t be able to work Hendrickson’s salary in, either, and it would also be difficult to give Hendrickson the $30 million or so annually he’ll likely garner in a new deal.
Acquiring Hendrickson is exactly the kind of move the win-now Lions should make, but it doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the reigning NFC North champions.
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