Bengals Lose Lawson to Jets; Pay Trey Hendrickson

After a long day of sitting on their hands, and maybe rightly so, the Bengals finally made a splash! It didn’t come until about 10:00pm, but hey, it counts.

Bengals, DE Trey Hendrickson agree to four-year, $60 million deal. (via @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/PmJHzBHPps

— NFL (@NFL) March 16, 2021

Overpay is the word of the day for me. Almost every player inking a new contract seems to be getting a lot more money than expected. On the surface, Hendrickson looks like an upgrade from Lawson. And maybe he is, but the front office is banking on Hendrickson producing even more than he did in 2020; the best year of his career.

According to PFF, Hendrickson recorded 14 sacks in his 2020 campaign compared to Lawson’s 6. While it may not tell the entire story, it provides hope that the pass rush can be better. Lawson didn’t really have much help getting sacks like Hendrickson did playing on the opposite side of 6-time Pro Bowler Cam Jordan. Expect the Bengals to be much more active in the coming days.