I Trey-Trey-Trade You?
Seahawks fan answer the questions "Should Seattle trade for Trey Hendrickson?" and "What's a good movie to watch?"
In all the Seahawks fan surveys I’ve ever done, I’ve never seen a more perfect split of a three-way question than this one:
On the topic of whether or not the Seahawks should trade for Trey Hendrickson:
One-third of you said no
One-third of you said “yes, for a 2nd”
One-third of you said “yes, for a 3rd”
Don’t ask me why I didn’t give you the option to trade a first round pick for Hendrickson. I might not have free will. More likely than not, every action I take was set in motions centuries ago!
During his appearance on Brock & Salk last week, ESPN’s Brady Henderson tried his best to bring logic to the show. Maybe Brady has free will. When asked about the possibility of trading for Hendrickson, Brady mentioned the fact that past trades by Seattle in similar situations are usually not immediately followed by contract extensions.
So if the Seahawks trade for Hendrickson, they’re probably expecting him to play on his current deal that expires at the end of the season. Therefore, Seattle might not want to risk a first or a second round pick for a rental even if he’s had the most sacks in the NFL over the past two seasons.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with Hendrickson’s game, here’s a short summary of who he is and what he probably wants:
The 30-year-old edge rusher is 6’4, 270 lbs and he was a third round pick by the Saints in 2017. After posting 6.5 sacks in his first three seasons, Hendrickson had 13.5 sacks in 2020 and then signed a free agent deal with the Bengals in 2021. Since then he’s had 57 sacks in four seasons (third-most in the league behind Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt), including 17.5 sacks in each of the past two.
Hendrickson is set to make a $16 million this year and then becomes a free agent in 2026. Garrett’s recent extension in Cleveland is a four-year, $160 million deal with $89 million guaranteed and a no-trade clause. Realistically, Garrett’s contract has two years tacked onto the end that he might never reach and could end up as a two-year, $90 million deal. So satisfying Hendrickson’s contract demands could amount to something like a two-year, $76 million deal, numbers worked out by Bengals blogger James Rapien.
More Context: Where Hendrickson would fit on Seattle cap
Leonard Williams, a defensive lineman who could be similarly valuable to Hendrickson, signed a three-year, $64.5 million contract in 2024. That’s $21.5 million per year for Williams compared to (estimated) $38 million per year for Hendrickson.
And Williams is the highest-paid non-QB on the roster. If the Seahawks trade for Hendrickson and end up paying him a market-appropriate contract extension, he will be the highest-paid player on the team period.
To address issues they have on defense with their edge rushers, Seattle signed Demarcus Lawrence to a contract that only carries a $7.7 million cap hit in 2025 and $11.3 million in 2026, with the option to release him after this season if anything goes wrong. The Seahawks also agreed to let Uchenna Nwosu stay if he would bring down his compensation, which now stands at $11.5 million.
Trading for Hendrickson would add another $16 million to Seattle’s cap and the amount they are paying for their edge rushers in 2025, which at this point is $28.5 million and ranks as the 19th-most in the NFL. If the Seahawks trade for Hendrickson and don’t bring down his cap number then they would move up to having the 5th-most expensive edge rusher room in the league.
Do the Seahawks need Trey Hendrickson?
Another important aspect to trading for Hendrickson is, “Where does he play?” and that question might be addressed in this explainer video by Cody Alexander at MatchQuarters. He’s not specifically talking about Hendrickson, but in his “What is a Sub-Package?” explainer video he does mention the role that Leonard Williams has in Seattle’s sub-package.
“There’s multiple different ways that you can run nickel. The traditional way is we have five DBs, two linebackers, and four down linemen, this is a traditional 425. Now you can structure the front differently and some that are in the odd-front universe. For example, the Seahawks last year had Leonard Williams as the Big-5 (5-technique) and then they had one of their edges as kind of that small-5 on the other side.”
Given that the Seahawks have four important edge rushers already:
Demarcus Lawrence
Uchenna Nwosu
Boye Mafe
Derick Hall
How do they turn around, trade for Hendrickson, and find playing time for all five of them?
The most obvious answer would be to trade someone back to the Bengals — for example trading Mafe and a third round pick — but then we have to wonder if now Seattle is getting fleeced; Mafe is better through three seasons than Hendrickson was through his first three seasons. How do we know that the Seahawks aren’t trading a promising future Pro Bowl pass rusher for a rental of a 31-year-old who wants to be the highest-paid player on the team?
Not only that, but Seattle is trading Mafe or Hall just because they’re “committed” to over-30 edge rushers who might not even be around in 2026 like Lawrence and Nwosu? It just doesn’t make any sense — unless you believe that Hendrickson is going to be like when the Vikings traded for Jared Allen.
The problem with THAT though is that Allen stopped being an elite pass rusher when he was 31 or 32. It might be too late to expect Hendrickson to deliver 3 to 4 more good seasons in the NFL.
This is why trading for Trey Hendrickson is risky even if the price is less than a third round pick.
Are you sacrificing playing time for Mafe and Hall to add a player who might be at the tail end of his prime?
Does Hendrickson actually move the needle for the Seahawks to become Super Bowl contenders?
Can the team afford to retain all of their upcoming free agents in 2026 and 2027 if they trade for Hendrickson and re-sign him?
Would this trade indicate that Lawrence and/or Nwosu are showing red flags before we even get to the season?
Does Mike Macdonald even need a “top-3 edge rusher” in his defensive scheme to produce a league-leading number of sacks?
As defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens, Macdonald may have had less front-7 talent than he currently has in Seattle and the Ravens managed to be among the league leaders in sacks anyway. Players like Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy were good enough, so maybe Hendrickson like having a spoon when all you need is a knife.
Seaside Joe Movie Night
I asked you all to recommend CONTENT to me, whether it be movies, books, TV shows, and so on. Let’s start with your movie recommendations.
Seaside Movies
Almost Famous
Slow Horses
Road Warrior
Draft Day (x2)
In the Heat of the Night
The Mission
Can’t Stand Losing You
The Amateur
The Accountant 2
Sleepaway Camp
Big Trouble in Little China
Paper Tiger
Local Hero
Captain Ron
The Evil Dead
The Sting
Lady in the Water
Broken Trail
Easy Rider
Idiocracy
Dead Poets Society
Dream Scenario
What are your comments when you see this list?
Seaside Joe 2296
I was, and remain a hard no on Hendrickson. I’d rather give Mafe and Hall a chance to grow. Imagine both on them turning into 12 sack players. We could sign both of them for the price of extending the aging Hendrickson. They are approaching their peak, Hendrickson is in his peak and perhaps about to slide down the slope. If D-Law and Chenna look like they won’t produce this year, Clowney would come very cheap. I can’t see how extending Hendrickson won’t severely handicap our ability to sign the class of 2022 and 2023, both of which have players who could be major contributors to a championship run by the Hawks.
I think John is very cautious trading first and second pics after his disaster with a certain past rushing safety
That’s the main reason I don’t see him doing it