When Joe Burrow won the national title at LSU in Jan. 2020, millions were watching.
One of them was Trey Hendrickson.
A year later, Burrow was rehabbing from a torn ACL sustained in his rookie season with the Cincinnati Bengals, and Hendrickson was a free agent after four seasons with the New Orleans Saints. For the edge rusher, it was a chance to team up with a young quarterback entering superstardom.
“I got to see him in New Orleans, obviously winning a national championship there. It’s exciting when you get to play with a franchise quarterback like that. He’s proven that and more. There was a lot of potential of making a difference on this defense, and that was something I was very excited to do.”
For Hendrickson, things worked out better than even he could have imagined.
In three years with the Bengals, Hendrickson has reached two AFC title games and Super Bowl LVI, led by Burrow’s prodigious talent. As for his part, the 29-year-old has made the Pro Bowl each season, totaling 39.5 sacks and 76 quarterback hits.
But now, Hendrickson is tasked with perhaps his most demanding moment yet.
After requesting a trade this offseason due to a desire for more long-term contract security, Hendrickson showed up to training camp and says with both sides being transparent, the matter has been tabled. With the focus being on football, Hendrickson must lead a defense with plenty to prove.
Last year, the Bengals ranked dead last in yards allowed per play (6.0) with the pass rush being a middling unit. Cincinnati was 14th in pressure rate (22.1%) and 18th in sacks (41), with Hendrickson having 17.5 and nobody else producing more than six.
This offseason, general manager Duke Tobin gave Hendrickson and Co. some help, signing defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins to a two-year, $26 million deal to replace the more run-minded D.J. Reader.
For Rankins, it’s an opportunity to play alongside Hendrickson once more after they spent four years together in New Orleans.
“We’ve got good chemistry,” Rankins says. “We’re both really smart football players who understand protections, and how teams want to attack our strengths and weaknesses. I think we’re going to do some great things together. I think we only scratched the surface of what we could together in New Orleans.
“Going on in our careers, we’ve become better players and become more disruptive players. I feel playing next to each other or just being out there together at the same time, there are some special things we can do.”
If the Bengals are going to rebound from a disastrous defensive season, Rankins and Hendrickson may be the two most important players.
To that point, the combination alongside Sam Hubbard and others can ease the secondary’s burden, with no starting or contributing corners possessing more than two years of NFL experience.
“Every team is different, whether it looks the same on paper or it seems to be the same,” Hendrickson says. “Finding out our identity is what we’re doing right now going into [the second preseason game] and I’m excited about that.”
With a healthy Burrow, a quality roster and one of the league’s top coaching staffs, the Bengals have a chance to be special in 2024.
If they achieve their goal of winning a championship, it’ll mean both Burrow and Hendrickson met their high expectations. It’s a duo that can trace their Super Bowl chase back to New Orleans, where a collegiate wunderkind and ascending defensive end began showing the football world what they can do.
Best thing I saw: Burrow spending time by himself on the sideline
Tuesday’s practice was rough for Cincinnati’s offense, and not unexpectedly. The unit was without Ja’Marr Chase once again as he continues his contract dispute, while fellow wideout Tee Higgins got a rest day.
In team drills, Burrow struggled to find an open receiver, often dumping the ball off underneath, taking a would-be sack or firing into a tight window.
On a few occasions, Burrow found a quiet space along the sideline, seemingly trying to focus and recalibrate without getting overly frustrated.
For Burrow, this offseason has been a process. He’s rehabbed his injured elbow and has yet to have a full roster around him, with Chase sitting out and now rookie right tackle Amarius Mims sidelined with a pec injury.
With the heat of August and the weight of expectations crashing into a tough day, Burrow could have lost his cool. He didn’t.
It’s a little thing, but it speaks to a player who understands how actions now could play into actions later.
Best thing I heard: Collective joy from the defense
The only celebrations were coming from the defense, which time and again shut down the offense in team periods.
Without Chase and Higgins, the Bengals were toothless. They also struggled to open running lanes, with linebackers Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson filling the gaps.
For Cincinnati, the day was both frustrating and promising. The offense struggled but will ultimately be fine once it’s whole again. The defense, a much larger question mark, gave reason to believe it’s finding a groove under coordinator Lou Anarumo’s guide.
Veteran who impressed: Tanner Hudson, TE
On a day where Cincinnati’s offense ranged from brutal to incompetent, Hudson was a bright spot.
Playing with the second team, Hudson consistently worked himself open and caught multiple passes for intermediate gains.
Across three teams and four seasons, Hudson had shown little to make anybody think he was more than a fringe roster piece for any decent team.
But in 2023, Hudson signed a one-year deal with the Bengals and played well, hauling in 39 passes on 50 targets for 352 yards and his first career touchdown.
Although Cincinnati signed Mike Gesicki to start, don’t be surprised if Hudson sees plenty of action. Last year, he played 36% of offensive snaps. Here’s to betting that figure rises.
Rookie who impressed: Josh Newton, CB
A fifth-round pick, Newton is a kid worth watching.
Throughout Tuesday’s practice, Newton was a pest for any quarterback he faced. Though he mostly faced Cincinnati’s depth behind Burrow, he also took on the Pro Bowler and broke up an inside route, popping the ball into the air before it was intercepted.
“I was just in Cover 2,” Newton says of the play. “My eyes were on Burrow. I saw him throw it, drove on it and tipped it. It went up and he caught it.”
With Chidobe Awuzie playing for the Tennessee Titans, there’s a reshuffling at the corner spot for Anarumo to figure out. And while Cam Taylor-Britt, Dax Hill and DJ Turner II are presumably ahead of Newton in terms of understanding the defense and earning coaches’ trust, the rookie has shown enough this offseason and summer to warrant intrigue.
“Consistency, consistency,” Newton says of his goals between now and the regular season. “Winning the matchup, winning the leverage, winning the execution of what I’m supposed to be doing each and every play. Just take it play by play, situation by situation, rep by rep. Just stack. Stack good plays on top of each other and be as consistent as I can.”
For the Bengals, who permitted the fifth-most passing yards and most yards per completion (12.3) in 2023, Newton could be a key find.
Song of the day: “Poison” by Rod Wave
The song echoed through the locker room after practice, and its title brought to mind a looming problem with the team.
This offseason has seen Chase’s holdout along with the continued rehab of Burrow, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens last year.
While every team needs good breaks to raise the Lombardi Trophy, Cincinnati must avoid the poison of festering discontent with Chase, along with getting a healthy season from its most important player.
