Coming off a season in which the Chicago Bears exceeded all expectations, general manager Ryan Poles is tasked with making moves that will put his team over the top.
One area that needs improvement is the pass-rush, and more specifically, edge rusher.
Chicago finished with 35 sacks last season, tied for the seventh-fewest in the NFL, and the Bears need a better running mate for Montez Sweat.
In an ideal world, a prediction from FOX Sports' Greg Auman comes to fruition and the Bears sign Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson in free agency.
Here's what Auman said about Hendrickson:
Hendrickson, 31, doesn't have the luster he had a year ago. Instead of coming off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons and four straight Pro Bowls, he's now coming off core muscle surgery in December that limited him to four sacks in seven games in 2025. He got a one-year, $29 million deal from the Bengals last year, but isn't likely to draw as much this time around. ESPN has him as the league's No. 1 overall free agent, but will he get more than one year guaranteed, and at much more than $20 million a year? He needs 19 sacks to reach 100 for his career and could easily get that in two more healthy seasons.
Prediction: Signs with Bears
A four-time Pro Bowler, Hendrickson is one of the best edge rushers in the league and nobody in the NFL had more sacks than him from 2023-24 after he posted 35 combined over those two seasons (17.5 in each).
Hendrickson had a down season in 2025, though, as an injury limited him to just seven games and four sacks.
With Hendrickson set to turn 32 in December, there are fears about a decline, but it is going to take more than one injury-plagued season for us to believe someone as consistent as Hendrickson is on the down side of his career.
Hendrickson would be just what the doctor ordered in Chicago.
He would provide a massive upgrade opposite Sweat and would give the Bears one of the very best one-two punches at edge rusher in the NFL, which could take Chicago's defense as a whole to the next level.
The wild card in this situation is the Bengals themselves.
There is a very good chance Hendrickson has no desire to return to Cincinnati after the team did not pay him what he's worth, but the Bengals could slap the franchise tag on him before trading Hendrickson away, something NFL Network reported is possible.
While that would obviously complicate things, it should not deter the Bears from pursuing Hendrickson with the team's Super Bowl window officially open.
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