Everyone in Atlanta went to bed last night dreaming of one man — Trey Hendrickson. Well, at least every Falcons fan did. [The star pass rusher was granted permission to seek a trade, and Jordan Schultz linked the Falcons to Hendrickson.](https://www.sportstalkatl.com/falcons-linked-to-star-pass-rusher-trey-hendrickson/)
Hendrickson is coming off a season in which he led the league in sacks with 17.5, bringing his total to 35 sacks over the last two seasons and 70.5 sacks over the last five seasons, making Pro Bowls in four consecutive seasons.
With ties to Terry Fontenot from their time in New Orleans and Jessie Bates III from their time in Cincinnati, there are a lot of reasons for the Falcons to put out a full-court press in pursuit of a Trey Hendrickson trade. More than any other reason, the Falcons have had a pathetic pass rush for going on two decades.
That makes them desperate. Not only would the Falcons have to part ways with draft capital, but they’d also need a new deal in place for Hendrickson, one that will surely pay him as much as Maxx Crosby was just paid.
So, how much could the Falcons be all-in for a Trey Hendrickson trade? [CBS Sports Jonathan Jones enlightened us.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lra05XS72y8)
“In terms of trade compensation, talked with a couple of executives, and it actually came back almost unanimous, where it would be the Khalil Mack-like trade.”
No, Jones isn’t talking about the first Khalil Mack trade that sent the star pass rusher from the Raiders to the Bears for a haul of draft picks. Jones is referring to the second trade, the one that sent Mack from Chicago to Los Angeles. The Chargers sent the Bears a second-round pick, which would be a fair price, but it might not even cost that much.
“Because Trey Hendrickson, no matter where he gets dealt, will certainly have to get an extension, you’re probably going to have to lessen the trade compensation,” Jones continued. “Probably a fair, you can call it a conservative estimate but probably a fair estimate is if the Bengals can get a high three (round pick), they (Bengals) would love a low two (round pick), but at the end of it, if they are going to deal Trey Hendrickson, it’s probably going to be a high three.”
So, the Falcons will likely be on the hook for a low third-rounder. Easy enough, right? Well, the Falcons don’t even have a third-round pick to trade. They own a first, second, fourth, and two-seventh rounders.
The Falcons should still be fine with trading a second-round pick for Hendrickson because he can provide more than any rookie second-rounder could. But the tricky part is weighing that cost along with his new deal.
Crosby’s new deal is a three-year pact and worth $106.5 million with $91.5 million guaranteed. At the very least, I imagine the Falcons would have to tack on something very close to that to Hendrickson’s current deal of a $15.5 million base salary for 2025. That would bring Atlanta’s investment to a 2025 second-round pick and around $120 million over four years, or about $30 million per year.
Would you do that deal if you were the Falcons?
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**Photographer:** Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire