The Bucs And Trey Hendrickson
August 17th, 2025
“Joel, you killed me with that Micah Parsons question.”
No. No. No. The 2025 Buccaneers are not trading for a monster pass rusher.
Let it go. Get it out of your head.
It’s not the way of Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht. He didn’t build the beastly current roster by chasing dreams through coughing up draft picks.
It’s become clear this weekend that the Bengals officially want to trade first-team All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.
Hendrickson had 17 1/2 sacks last season. A fluke? Nope. Hendrickson had the same total in 2023.
The 30-year-old Florida man is a mauler, a Licht kind of guy, in fact, a third-round pick out of Florida Atlantic University.
Hendrickson was drafted by the slimy Saints in 2017 and didn’t have a good year until breaking out in 2020. He grinded and developed, and then had four straight Pro Bowl years for the Bengals, the team that doesn’t want to pay him a fat contract.
Whatever the cost to secure Hendrickson, the Bucs aren’t going there. They’d have to guarantee Hendrickson a lot of money and possibly cough up a first-round pick and second-year edge rusher Chris Braswell.
That’s not in the plan, Joe believes, not matter how ferocious that deal could make the Bucs’ pass rush and enhance their 2025 Super Bowl dreams.
Maybe that’s smart. Maybe that’s business.
Maybe that’s front-office discipline, the kind that’s made a potential Hendrickson signing feel like the final cog in a Super Bowl chase.
Joe’s not sure.
Landing Hendrickson sure would be entertaining and exciting. But Joe is resigned to hoping Hendrickson won’t find his way to Detroit or Washington.
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