Tag: Trey Hendrickson

Look: 6 former Saints players meet up after Jets-Bengals game

A small crowd of former Saints players, ranging from Thomas Morstead to Sheldon Rankins and Eli Apple, met up after the Jets upset the Bengals:

[mm-video type=video id=01fke6ea0vrbsxdhd0ws playlist_id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fke6ea0vrbsxdhd0ws/01fke6ea0vrbsxdhd0ws-88eac9102374aed2bf35bdc3fd4d283a.jpg]

Here’s another entry for the “things we love to see” file folder. A small crowd of former New Orleans Saints players gathered for a group photo after the New York Jets’ upset victory over the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday, which Thomas Morstead shared from his official Twitter account.

And there’s a number of names very familiar to Saints fans among them: Morstead was joined by his Jets teammates Justin Hardee and Sheldon Rankins, all of whom signed with New York this offseason, as well as their Bengals opponents Trey Hendrickson, Vonn Bell, and Eli Apple.

Morstead’s Jets pulled off a 34-31 win (just their second victory of the year) thanks to a stunning performance from backup quarterback Mike White, who filled in for the injured Zach Wilson. But the Bengals have had an exciting year so far thanks to Hendrickson’s addition to their defensive line. Bell was voted a team captain for the second year since signing with Cincinnati.

It’s tough to see good players like them leave New Orleans, but at the same time it’s great that they’re still finding success. The Saints will get to catch up with their friends in New York when they visit the Jets on Dec. 12. They’ll have to wait another year to see their old teammates in Cincinnati until next year, when the Bengals are scheduled to play the Saints at the Caesars Superdome in 2022.

[vertical-gallery id=56558]

Bengals vs. Jets: 4 things fans should know about Cincinnati in Week 8

The Jets face an upstart Bengals team in Week 8. Get to know Cincinnati before the Jets host them at MetLife Stadium.

The Jets aren’t facing the same old Bengals of the past few years.

No, the Cincinnati squad New York faces in Week 8 is actually one of the best teams in the AFC through the first seven weeks of the season. Between a high-powered offense and a sound defense, the Bengals are one of the NFL’s biggest surprises this year and have taken a tremendous leap in Zac Taylor’s third year as head coach. A lot of praise can be showered upon Joe Burrow playing up to his first overall draft pick pedigree, but the entire team looks to have figured out how to play against some of the best teams in the NFL.

A matchup that many surely thought would be woefully close at the beginning of the season now looks to be one of New York’s toughest games of the year. It doesn’t help that injuries have plagued the Jets and New York will start Mike White at quarterback.

Before this difficult matchup takes place, let’s get to know these new-look Bengals a bit better.

Carl Lawson’s Bengals replacement thriving before Jets matchup

The Bengals signed Trey Hendrickson after Carl Lawson joined the Jets. He’s one of the NFL’s best pass rushers this season.

Carl Lawson’s old team comes to town in Week 8, and his replacement could wreak havoc on the Jets offensive line.

After four years and 20 sacks with the Bengals, Lawson left to join the Jets on a three-year, $45 million deal over the offseason. In search of a new pass-rusher, the Bengals turned to the similarly impressive but relatively-unknown Trey Hendrickson.

Cincinnati was questioned for signing Hendrickson to a four-year, $65 million deal after only one productive season in New Orleans, but the decision has paid off thus far. Hendrickson is among the league’s best at rushing the passer and ranks fourth in sacks with 6.5, third in pressures with 23, and eighth in quarterback hits with 12 through just seven games.

Hendrickson’s presence, along with a few others, has played a key role in the Bengals’ defensive rise. Cincinnati ranks fifth in sacks, second in pressures and allows just 94 rushing yards per game and an 84.8 quarterback rating. The Bengals sit atop the AFC North with an impressive 5-2 record after a huge win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Lawson, meanwhile, is rehabbing a ruptured Achilles suffered over the summer. It was a debilitating injury that crippled a promising Jets defense after tales of Lawson’s training camp dominance. New York has suffered for it; it ranks in the middle of the league in a lot defensive statistics and near the bottom in points and yards allowed.

The scenarios just as easily could have been reversed for either team, though. It’s impossible to predict an injury like an Achilles tear. Lawson, however, didn’t like the Bengals’ initial contract offer, which featured one year guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano. His deal with the Jets included $30 million guaranteed, while Hendrickson’s slightly larger deal only came with $16 million guaranteed.

Now the Jets will face Hendrickson and the Bengals with QB Mike White making his first NFL start behind a porous offensive line. It’s an unideal situation for New York, but one Robert Saleh and the Jets will need to manage if they want to be competitive on Sunday.

[listicle id=664398]

Trey Hendrickson throws out a Drew Brees comparison for Joe Burrow

And Trey Hendrickson would know.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson spent four seasons with the New Orleans Saints and after six games with his new team, he’s got quite the interesting comparison for Joe Burrow.

Appearing on “Good Morning Football” on Wednesday, Hendrickson equated Burrow to former Saints teammate Drew Brees:

“They’re both insanely competitive…I think he’s on the right track. That competitive edge, that confidence he has, those are things you can’t teach…I have faith in him and it’s our job to get him the ball back.”

While much of Hendrickson’s commentary centered on Burrow’s mental side of things, the comparison to Brees is pretty spot on in other areas. Brees never had the biggest reputation of a strong-armed passer by any means, yet he found ways to excel anyway.

Not that fans need much of an explanation about Brees, the Super Bowl-winning passer who played from 2001-2020 and will join the Hall of Fame soon enough.

But it’s especially fun to hear such a comparison from an actual teammate who has now seen both guys and feels comfortable making it.

[listicle id=48180]

How are 11 recent Saints departures playing with their new teams?

The New Orleans Saints lost big names this offseason like Emmanuel Sanders, Jackrabbit Jenkins, and Trey Hendrickson. How are they doing?

[mm-video type=video id=01fhxfhr0fpqqqgbcvz6 playlist_id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fhxfhr0fpqqqgbcvz6/01fhxfhr0fpqqqgbcvz6-9b7fdb22118c0c90490c8c5bb10c1fad.jpg]

The New Orleans Saints lost familiar names this offseason like Emmanuel Sanders, Jackrabbit Jenkins, and Trey Hendrickson to an unprecedented salary cap crunch, and many of their departures have already hit the ground running with other teams.

So how are they doing? Here’s a quick survey of 11 former Saints through the first five weeks of 2021:

Saints projected to earn 3 compensatory draft picks again in 2022

Saints projected to earn 3 compensatory draft picks again in 2022

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

A year after the New Orleans Saints received three additional selections in the 2021 NFL draft, they’re predicted to do so again. The analysts at Over The Cap have come closest to cracking the NFL’s tightly-guarded code for determining comp picks, and after correctly forecasting the team would be awarded 2021 draft picks in the third round (for Teddy Bridgewater) and the sixth round (for A.J. Klein), they’re projecting a continued trend for the Saints in 2022.

Right now, OTC projects the Saints to receive a fourth rounder for Trey Hendrickson and a sixth rounder for Sheldon Rankins — in addition to the third round comp pick the Saints have already earned for Terry Fontenot in the NFL’s incentivized minority hiring policy. A handful of other teams are predicted to receive three comp picks each, while the Rams (five) and Chargers (four) pace the NFL.

In past years, Hendrickson’s $15 million per-year contract would have been a sure third round comp pick for the Saints. But that new incentives policy guarantees third-round compensation for teams who lose a minority candidate to a head coach or general manager role on another team, which pushes highly-valued contracts like Hendrickson’s down below the threshold and into the fourth round. It’s the difference between picking at No. 105 and waiting until No. 142 to make your selection.

Still, the Saints are direct beneficiaries of this policy so we can’t complain. And creating greater diversity in leadership roles across the league, better representing the population of players who are subject to their decisions, is a worthy cause deserving of those incentives. And, hey, remember: this is only a projection. Maybe the Saints end up getting a better pick for Hendrickson after all.

Last year, New Orleans used all of its compensatory draft picks to pad out trade packages while moving up the board to target specific players. They put the third rounders for Fontenot and Bridgewater together so they could leapfrog 22 spots and go get Paulson Adebo, who is competing to start Week 1.

The Saints then packaged the sixth rounder for Klein with a seventh round pick acquired from the Jaguars (for nose tackle Malcom Brown) so they could vault a dozen spots up the board, landing left tackle Landon Young — who was their highest-graded rookie in preseason, per Pro Football Focus. Even if the Saints didn’t remain in place and use all of their picks on different players, the draft-day versatility that extra ammo creates speaks for itself.

So is this signaling a philosophy shift in how the team approaches free agency and the draft? Or was this two-year trend more based in the logistics issues of struggling to keep a talented team together during a salary cap-shattering pandemic? Will the Saints get back to cooking the books once the cap recovers and goes to the moon in 2023, thanks to an influx of revenue from new broadcasting deals?

I’m guessing it’s a little of both. Even with the salary cap bouncing back two years from now, the Saints won’t be able to re-sign all of their priciest free agents — the 2022 class includes defensive cornerstones Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams, franchise left tackle Terron Armstead, and quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. If any of them are signed by another team, the Saints should be poised to net another comp pick in 2023.

For the curious, here are the current list of Saints draft picks in 2022 (their initial sixth rounder was forfeited by the NFL for COVID-19 protocol violations last year):

  • Round 1
  • Round 2
  • Round 3
  • Round 3 comp (Fontenot)
  • Round 4
  • Round 4 comp (Hendrickson)
  • Round 5
  • Round 6 comp (Rankins)
  • Round 7

[vertical-gallery id=48845]

Bengals sign former Saints pass rusher Noah Spence

Cincinnati Bengals sign former New Orleans Saints pass rusher Noah Spence:

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

It didn’t take long for one of the New Orleans Saints’ first roster cuts to land on his feet. Noah Spence has signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team announced Sunday, Aug. 22. in the wake of a tough injury to promising rookie Joseph Ossai.

Spence’s arrival to Cincinnati of course reunites him with Trey Hendrickson, who led the Saints in sacks last season before inking a lucrative contract with the Bengals.

Spence first joined the Saints late in the 2019 season after injuries thinned their defensive ends rotation, though he never got into a game. An offseason ACL tear cost him the 2020 campaign and struggles on special teams in New Orleans’ first preseason game with the Baltimore Ravens pushed him off the roster. He has a chance to stick around with the Bengals now at his natural position after attempting to convert to strong side linebacker with the Saints.

[listicle id=48301]

Trey Hendrickson ranked ahead of ex-Saints teammates on NFL Network’s Top 100

Trey Hendrickson ranked ahead of ex-Saints teammates on NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2021:

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Tying for the second-most sacks in the NFL does a lot to boost your reputation. That’s the case for Trey Hendrickson, the former New Orleans Saints pass rusher who signed a lucrative contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency. He clocked in at No. 73 on NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2021, as voted on by the players.

That alone isn’t too surprising, in a vacuum. Hendrickson took over several games last year thanks to his natural athleticism, which allowed him to bend and dip under bigger, slower blockers. It’s good to see him recognized for breaking out in such a big way.

But how in the world is he ranked ahead of his old teammate Terron Armstead, who beat him in practice every single day for four years? Armstead was ranked — for the first time in his career, showing how bunk this list is — all the way down at No. 79. Hendrickson himself wouldn’t say that he’s a better player than Armstead is right now or last season.

To figure out how we got here, just look at the voting process. Players around the league are given an NFL Films ballot with 20 open spaces to fill out with who they consider to be the best. Those votes are then counted and ranked based on how often each name is listed and where they’re ranked, which creates the top-100 list. Hendrickson clearly turned enough heads to make the list, but you’ve got to wonder what more Armstead could have done over the years to make the cut. And, yeah: it’s a bad system that creates gaffes like this.

[listicle id=48065]

Bengals plan creative coverage usage for DE Trey Hendrickson

The Bengals have big plans for a new defender.

[mm-video type=video id=01fcrqz97qs2e97rsb4j playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fcrqz97qs2e97rsb4j/01fcrqz97qs2e97rsb4j-02536dcd65bf7b62bd75fd3615e9cbb0.jpg]

The Cincinnati Bengals have some creative usage in mind for new edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.

We already knew Hendrickson would see more playing time than he ever has to this point in his career. It wasn’t a shock to hear he’d kick inside to rush the passer in certain situations, too.

But dropping into coverage is a new camp development.

Hendrickson had a recent interception of Joe Burrow during his defense’s strong run against the offense. And now he’s opened up more about what coordinator Lou Anarumo wants from him in coverage.

“That’s the element of disguise that we’re trying to get after. It’s camp. They’re looking at things, too,” Hendrickson said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “As long as we disguise our alignments on defense and do our job, that’s what we’re here for.”

It’s an odd thing to consider, really. As the writeup notes, Hendrickson only dropped into coverage seven times last season and the interception was his first since high school.

On one hand, disguising intentions before the snap is a great strategy. If Hendrickson dropping back on occasion while extra defensive backs send pressure leads to sacks, the plan works.

But the counterargument is that the Bengals made Hendrickson one of the NFL’s highest-paid pass-rushers to rush quarterbacks. We’ve seen Cincinnati defenses in the past drop edge rushers into coverage and get burnt.

Maybe the strategy works better with Hendrickson in part because the defense around him is upgraded. And maybe it’s just a camp thing the coaches test but don’t use often., Either way, it’s part of the puzzle to keep in mind when thinking about the rebuilt defense.

[listicle id=44370]

Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson is one of NFL’s best from certain gap

Cincinnati Bengals defender Trey Hendrickson is one of the NFL’s best in his area.

[mm-video type=video id=01f4n3jzm8wds958fmaj playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f4n3jzm8wds958fmaj/01f4n3jzm8wds958fmaj-578ab3025e9ba1f54aa4279e4d338b86.jpg]

The Cincinnati Bengals paid up big for edge rusher Trey Hendrickson in free agency after losing Carl Lawson.

It was fairly judged as a risky manuever by the Bengals given Lawson’s past production and the fact Hendrickson has just one big season of production on his resume so far.

But when used in certain alignments, that one season was one of the NFL’s best, as explained by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar:

“More often than not these days, a 7-tech pass-rusher is working outside the tackle from a more reduced position than the 9-tech. If we go with that specific designation, Trey Hendrickson, formerly of the Saints and now of the Bengals after signing a four-year, $60 million contract this offseason, is the king of the pass-rushing 7-techs, and it isn’t even close. Last season, Hendrickson had 10 sacks and 34 total pressures on 217 pass-rushing snaps from that technique. It’s a Saints thing, too, as Cameron Jordan, Hendrickson’s former New Orleans teammate, finished second with four sacks, and had 28 total pressures out of 208 pass-rushing snaps from a 7-tech alignment.”

In other words, the Bengals probably had this specific vision and usage for Hendrickson in mind when signing the former New Orleans Saints standout to headline the pass-rush in Lou Anarumo’s scheme.

The Bengals are counting on last year’s production to be a sign of things to come from Hendrickson, though it will take playing him to his strengths.

Said strengths aren’t exactly hard to see, so it’s safe to project one of the newest Bengals to have a big impact upon arrival.

[listicle id=42949]