During an appearance on the “Pardon My Take“
podcast, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow praised the Eagles’ ability to pay star players while keeping their core intact. Imagine how he’d feel if they traded for his team’s best pass-rusher?
“The Eagles are paying everybody,” Burrow said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “That seems like the way, whatever they’re doing.”
They’ll need to do something on defense with linemen like linebacker Josh Sweat and defensive tackle Milton Williams both expected to leave the team as free agents.
Sweat led Philadelphia with eight sacks in 2024, while Williams had five. Together they had 4.5 sacks in Super Bowl LIX, but neither can match the career numbers of Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson, the 30-year-old defensive end led the NFL with 17.5 sacks last season.
Hendrickson joined the league as a third-round pick of the Saints in 2017, averaging 11.9 sacks per game with 57 coming in four Pro Bowl seasons as a Bengal. He’s also due to make $18.6M in 2025, his last year under contract with Cincinnati.
Considering the team must find a way to pay Ja’Marr Chase, the NFL’s leading receiver, and fellow wideout Tee Higgins this offseason, the Bengals surprised no one by giving Hendrickson permission to seek a trade.
Cincinnati would save $16M in cap space while absorbing just $2.6M in dead money by trading Hendrickson. He should have plenty of suitors with Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz pointing to Washington and Atlanta as two teams that have been monitoring the situation.
Unlike the Commanders who have $94M in available cap space for next season, Philadelphia has just $17M to play with. The Raiders just made Maxx Crosby the highest paid non-quarterback in league history with a three-year, $106M contract extension ($91.5 million guaranteed) and it’s safe to assume Hendrickson will be looking for similar numbers.
By making Saquon Barkley the NFL’s highest-paid running back with a $41.2M extension, Philadelphia effectively reduced his cap hit for 2025 by $6.7M. By releasing cornerback Darius Slay, they saved another $4.3M. While certainly not Crosby money, it’s a good start for Eagles general manager Howie Roseman.
At the time, some fans thought the Eagles were clearing space for Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett but that scenario grows less plausible by the day. The four-time All-Pro would like to be traded and recently asked to meet with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam. But according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Haslam refused to meet and remains steadfast against trading his best defensive player.
If not Garrett, the NFL sack leader would make a nice consolation prize for an Eagles team that already boasts the league’s top-ranked defense, would be quite a coup for the Super Bowl champions and something that would surely make Burrow’s blood boil.
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