NFL Insider Says Bengals Envision Trey Hendrickson, Shemar Stewart Duo amid Trade Buzz

It was easy to speculate the Cincinnati Bengals may be moving on from defensive end Trey Hendrickson when they selected Texas A&M pass-rusher Shemar Stewart in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft, but that reportedly is not the case.

Judy Battista of NFL.com reported Saturday the Bengals "envision" Hendrickson and Stewart "pairing" together to make life difficult on opposing quarterbacks in 2025.

Stewart will surely be there as the No. 17 overall pick of Thursday's first round, but Hendrickson's future has remained unclear for much of the offseason.

Cincinnati gave the veteran permission to seek a trade in March before it agreed to new contracts with wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Those ensuing financial commitments to Chase and Higgins made Hendrickson's future seem even cloudier, although there has not yet been a trade to this point of the offseason.

Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn told reporters earlier this month Hendrickson "should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at. I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he's not, you know, that's what holds it up sometimes.

"So, you know, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him. He's been a great player. We're happy to have him. And so maybe we'll find a way to get something to work. We're just gonna see where it goes."

The pass-rusher appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and said those comments were "a little disappointing because communication has been poor over the last couple months."

Given that backstory, questions were surely going to come up when Cincinnati selected Stewart.

However, head coach Zac Taylor told reporters that pick had nothing to do with Hendrickson and added, "I don't think you can ever have enough defensive linemen, especially in this league and this division. So, this doesn't speak to anyone else that's on our football team."

If the Bengals do end up keeping the four-time Pro Bowler who led the league with 17.5 sacks last season, that should help Stewart become more productive at the NFL level. The Texas A&M product posted just 1.5 sacks last season for the Aggies, although he has the athleticism and explosiveness to finish with far higher numbers in the NFL.

And lining up on the same defensive line as Hendrickson would mean single blockers throughout much of his rookie campaign, which should help him finish with far more sacks.