The Baltimore Ravens decided to call off their seismic trade for Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby, which immediately led to them looking for a player like Cincinnati Bengals star Trey Hendrickson to fill the void that Eric DeCosta expected would be occupied at this point.
Baltimore didn't even wait a full day to officially confirm the Hendrickson signing, agreeing to bring the division rival over to the Ravens by way of a four-year contract worth $114 million. The contract could go up to $120 million in total value if certain incentives are met.
At just over $28 million per season, Hendrickson is expensive, but he is getting less than what the inferior Jaelan Phillips got from the Carolina Panthers. Now armed with their first-round picks in both the 2026 and 2027 seasons (one of which is No. 14 overall), Baltimore should be ready to go on the attack.
Ravens sign Trey Hendrickson to four-year deal after cancelled Maxx Crosby trade
The 31-year-old Hendrickson only played in seven games last season, recording four sacks. However, in each of the last two seasons he played before 2025, Hendrickson recorded 17.5 sacks, which was good enough to lead the league in the 2024 campaign.
New head coach Jesse Minter has been able to wring double-digit sacks out of inferior pass rushers before during his time with the Los Angeles Chargers, and adding Hendrickson to an aging room lacking in talent may be enough to make this fanbase forget all about Crosby.
While the Ravens did lose out on a superior player in Crosby, they now have control of multiple first-round picks and a player who is only a notch or two below No. 98 as a pass rusher. In terms of the allocation of resources involved in those two moves, Hendrickson and the two firsts may be superior to Crosby.
Baltimore may have been backed into a corner with Hendrickson after the Crosby mess, but it's impossible to look at this Ravens roster, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and say that Minter does not have a much better roster than he had previously.