The Baltimore Ravens are entering a new era of football, as Jesse Minter will be taking over as the head coach of the team in 2026. The former defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers will be looking to add lethal names to the Ravens' defense, and Alex Kay of Bleacher Report has them adding one of the top players hitting free agency.
Kay linked Trey Hendrickson to the Ravens in a recent predictions piece, and this would obviously be a great addition for the Ravens. They should absolutely pursue him if he's available in free agency. To make matters even better, this would absolutely infuriate Bengals fans, as Hendrickson has spent the past five years of his career in Cincinnati. Here's what Kay had to say on why he picked Baltimore as the ideal landing spot for Hendrickson:
"Baltimore's 30 sacks this past season tied for the third-fewest in the league and marked a significant regression from the 54—the second-most in the NFL—the team amassed the prior year. Three players on the 2024 Ravens recorded 6.5 or more sacks, while Travis Jones led the team in 2025 with five total sacks.
Considering Hendrickson had four sacks in seven games this past year and hasn't had fewer than eight sacks in any of his healthy seasons as a starter, he would be a massive upgrade on the edge in Charm City."
Ravens could strike gold with Trey Hendrickson signing this offseason
Hendrickson and the Bengals have been going back and forth on a long-term extension for a few years now and it definitely feels as if his time with the team has come to an end. He only appeared in seven games in 2025 and, if he does move on, what better way to stick it to the team that refused to sign him to a long-term extension than by signing with their biggest rival?
Hendrickson racked up 17.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024 but injuries sidelined him for most of this past season. That could have hurt his stock and made him a little less expensive in the offseason and the Ravens have the money to bring him in. This would be a fun signing for a lot of reasons but the main one is that Hendrickson would provide major juice to this new-look defense in Minter's first year on the job.
At the same time, Ravens fans would also enjoy this season because Bengals fans would be downright sick if Hendrickson jumped ship and headed to Baltimore for the next chapter of his career.