As Buffalo Bills fans have learned, it's hard not only to get to a Super Bowl but to win one. With this team being a Super Bowl contender for another year, any kind of swing the Bills want to take to try and better their chances of getting to the big game needs to be taken.
A popular move that has been recommended for the Bills is to go big or go home and try to pull off a trade with the Bengals for pass-rushing phenom Trey Hendrickson. Alex Kay of Bleacher Report is the latest to bring up this as a possible move for Buffalo and, with the Bills being all-in, it'd be hard to criticize them for taking a swing like this.
"The Buffalo Bills would be a fantastic fit for the edge rusher. The team is in need of more pass-rushing prowess, especially with offseason acquisition Joey Bosa already dealing with injuries that have kept him out of practice.
While the Bills have been burned by blockbuster edge defender acquisitions in the past—Von Miller recorded a meager six sacks over his last 25 games in Buffalo after signing a six-year, $120 million deal with the club—Hendrickson could buck that trend as a slam-dunk pickup.
While Buffalo doesn’t have much to offer in terms of draft capital, it doesn’t appear that teams are champing at the bit to send the Bengals a Day 1 pick for Hendrickson.
If Cincy is willing to come down on a lofty asking price, the Bills shouldn’t hesitate to send over a Round 2 pick to add one of the best sack creators of the past half-decade and bolster their Super Bowl aspirations."
Kay only has the Bills giving up a second-round pick in this proposed trade and that would absolutely be something they could risk to bring in Hendrickson. While Hendrickson is now 30 years old (which is precisely why the Bengals don't want to extend him), the guy has been on fire since arriving in Cincinnati in 2021. In four seasons with the Bengals, Hendrickson has tallied double-digit sacks and has had back-to-back 17.5 sack seasons.
Trading second-round pick for Trey Hendrickson could be doable for Bills
The Bills finished the 2024 season in the middle of the pack and that's something they'll need to improve on if they want to finally reach the Super Bowl. The Von Miller experiment blew up in their faces but again, this team has a chance to win it all and they need to take the chances that can help get them there.
Maybe Hendrickson doesn't have five more years of dominance in him but he's proving he can still perform at a high level right now. The hesistancy here wouldn't be the draft pick getting surrendered but rather the money Buffalo would have to pay Hendrickson once he was acquired. He's 30 years old (and turns 31 in December) so it's understandable if the Bengals don't want to pay him $35 million (or whatever he's asking for) a year.
This would be a risky move, no doubt, but having a star pass-rusher in the playoffs can be the difference between getting into the Super Bowl and watching from home. The Bills should absolutely try to make this happen.