The Washington Commanders turned around what was a languishing franchise in just a year's time, most significantly due to the drafting of QB Jayden Daniels No. 2 overall in 2024.
Now, with the 2025 draft less than a week and a half away, the team is potentially poised to make another monster April addition. Only this time, it would come via the trade market.
Moe Moton of Bleacher Report authored a blockbuster trade prediction on Sunday, April 13, in which the Commander flip their second-round pick in this year's draft (No. 61 overall) and a fifth-rounder in 2026 to the Cincinnati Bengals for elite edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and a sixth-rounder in this year's draft (No. 193 overall).
"The Bengals may take an edge rusher with the No. 17 pick in the upcoming draft. If that happens, Cincinnati could make phone calls right after its first-round pick," Moton wrote. "Cincinnati should call the Washington Commanders. The Commanders lost their 2024 sack leader, Dante Fowler Jr., who went back to the Dallas Cowboys in free agency. Washington's top remaining edge-rushers, Dorance Armstrong and Clelin Ferrell, combined for 8.5 sacks last year."
A late second-rounder and the equivalent of a sixth-round/fifth-round pick swap across two drafts is a far cry from the high price the Bengals were asking fellow NFL teams that inquired about Hendrickson's availability over the past several weeks.
That said, Cincinnati is heavily invested in QB Joe Burrow and its top two wide receivers, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Moton pointed out that the team has the salary cap space necessary to re-sign Hendrickson, but negotiations have been rocky to this point.
Beyond that, Hendrickson will play next season at 31 years old. He led the league with 17.5 sacks last year after producing the same figure in 2023. So while there is reason to believe that Hendrickson can still be a dominant edge rusher over the next few campaigns, which is why he makes sense for the Commanders, paying him huge is a risk for Cincinnati with so much money tied up in the offense and so many other defensive deficiencies to address.
