The Ravens announced the signing of veteran edge rusher Trey Hendrickson on March 12, two days after a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for Maxx Crosby fell through.
Hendrickson, 31, signed a four-year contract with the Ravens worth a reported $60 million in guarantees. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound edge rusher out of Florida Atlantic has played nine years in the NFL — four with the New Orleans Saints and five with the Cincinnati Bengals — and posted 81 career sacks.
Hendrickson hit free agency in March after a protracted contract dispute with the Bengals. With the Ravens looking for pass-rush help — Baltimore had 30 sacks in 2025, tied for 28th in the league — Hendrickson was a logical target in free agency.
Count former Maryland head coach Mark Duffner as a fan of the Ravens’ decision to sign Hendrickson. Duffner, who coached the Terps from 1992-1996, served as a senior defensive assistant for the Bengals from 2019-2024. He worked with Hendrickson for the final four seasons of that stretch.
“I think they’re getting a dynamic player and really, as we call it in the league, a game-wrecker or a game-changer,” Duffner said on Glenn Clark Radio March 12. “He is somebody that the opponents’ [offensive coaches in the] press box are going to be nervous about, and that’s for sure. He is a guy that you better know where he is each and every down.”
Hendrickson racked up 61 sacks for Cincinnati from 2021-2025, earning four Pro Bowl nods and helping the Bengals reach the Super Bowl in February 2022 and the AFC championship game in January 2023. He had 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble during the four-game Super Bowl run.
Duffner credited Hendrickson with elevating the Bengals’ standards, calling him a “fierce competitor” and “terrific preparation guy.” Duffner described Hendrickson as a professional in terms of how he studies inside and outside of the team facility and how he takes care of his body.
Duffner is looking forward to seeing how Ravens head coach Jesse Minter and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver can utilize Hendrickson.
“This guy is a rare, explosive athlete,” Duffner said. “He’s got excellent twist and bend. He’s got what we would refer to as dynamic flexibility. He can twist and bend when he’s on the move.”
However, Hendrickson is coming off a bumpy 2025 season. He didn’t take part in spring or summer workouts with Cincinnati prior to the season because he was in a contract dispute with the team; he signed a contract in late August that bumped his 2025 salary to $30 million ahead of free agency. He then played in just seven games and underwent core muscle surgery, ending a remarkable Bengals tenure on a sour note.
Former NFL linebacker and current 700 WLW Cincinnati talk show host Rocky Boiman called Hendrickson, who came to the Bengals on a four-year, $60 million in March 2021, “the greatest free-agent signing in Bengals history — period, end of story.” But Hendrickson was 26 years old when he signed that deal. There’s no guarantee his Ravens contract will work out as well as his first Bengals deal.
Still, Boiman is optimistic Hendrickson can rush the passer at a high level in his 30s.
“These players aren’t going through three weeks of two-a-days and they’re not banging in practice,” Boiman said on GCR March 11. “A 30-year-old player, that’s still an older player and still a lot of franchises feel that way, but these older guys I don’t think have the wear and tear on them that they did maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago and certainly beyond that. I think that’s what the Ravens are saying.”
The Ravens have historically preferred big, physical pass rushers who can also set the edge and defend the run — think Terrell Suggs, Jarret Johnson and Matthew Judon — which is why the team’s pursuit of Crosby made sense. In addition to having racked up 69.5 career sacks, Crosby has a reputation as a big-time edge-setter and run defender.
In March, the Ravens agreed to send two first-round picks to Las Vegas in exchange for Crosby. However, the Ravens backed out of the trade following Crosby’s physical; Crosby had undergone surgery in January to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee.
Hendrickson does not carry Crosby’s reputation in the run game. Duffner said “that’s really kind of a misnomer,” calling him a physical and efficient run-stopper. Boiman, though, said Hendrickson is “not exactly that interested in being a stalwart against the run.”
“Signing a guy [at] 31 years old, does he want to get in the trenches and grind it out and that kind of thing? I think that would be a concern, absolutely,” Boiman said.
There’s no doubt Hendrickson can rush the passer, though, as four double-digit sack seasons can attest. The Ravens need him to find that form again. They also need returning linebackers Mike Green (3.5 sacks in 2025) and Tavius Robinson (3.5) to take steps forward, particularly with Dre’Mont Jones (2.5) out the door and the long-term status of Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) unclear.
The Ravens’ struggles in recent years to finish games have been well-documented. They are surely hoping Hendrickson can be the closer they’ve lacked.
“If I had to describe him and what he’s meant to this Bengals franchise, certainly the last three years or so, that’s what it is — it’s late in the game,” Boiman said. “The Bengals have got a 10-point lead or a one-score lead, we need somebody to get after the passer on third down and get off the field. That’s what he has been best at. He’s not that interested in playing the run all the time and last year he had the injuries, but throughout most of his tenure with the Bengals, that’s where he was that guy.”
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