Trey Hendrickson’s Bengals breakout has him on pace to break team record

Trey Hendrickson has been a revelation for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals had high hopes for him when giving him a four-year deal worth $60 million in free agency. But it was fair for outsiders to wonder if that wasn’t a major risk. Hendrickson, after all, had 13.5 sacks with the Saints last year, but never more than 4.5 over three seasons before that.

Turns out the Bengals were right and he wasn’t a one-hit-wonder.

Hendrickson wasn’t just the team’s highest-graded player during the Week 11 beatdown of the Raiders — he’s got 9.5 sacks over 10 games so far.

In fact, Hendrickson is right in line to shatter a franchise record:

Trey Hendrickson has a full sack in 6⃣ straight games… the longest current streak in the NFL AND tied for the longest in team history.

Send Trey to the Pro Bowl: https://t.co/T04fPxaVlS pic.twitter.com/zXphdfyE9C

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 22, 2021

And at his current pace, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him keep re-writing the team record book from there.

How effective has Hendrickson been for the Bengals? He’s got 29 pressures in 10 games after managing 33 last year over 15 games. He’s got 13 hurries compared to just seven last year over those same spans.

Some of the credit goes to D.J. Reader being an absolute force in the middle. But at times, Hendrickson looks like the only viable pass-rusher out there (that injury to rookie Joseph Ossai is really hurting them).

But so far, it’s pretty clear the Bengals have a foundational building block at the age of 26 who is locked up for three more years and already putting his name down in team history.