Duke Tobin on Bengals' Plan to Sign Star Players Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Trey HendricksonCINCINNATI — ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter noted it will be hard for Cincinnati to dish out a new contract to Trey Hendrickson this offseason.

After plenty of rumblings about the topic ahead of free agency, the Cincinnati Bengals have given star defensive end Trey Hendrickson permission to seek a trade. ESPN’s Adam Sch

The Cincinnati Bengals have granted defensive end Trey Hendrickson's request to seek a trade, which was first reported by Adam Schefter and confirmed by Kelsey Conway. Hendrickson requested a trade last offseason and even mulled retirement last offseason before ultimately playing.

But one report recently listed Hendrickson as the possible "odd man out" if the Bengals get huge contract extensions done with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Now, The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov said during an appearance on the "Drop the Mic" podcast that he's starting to get a different sense of things about the situation with Hendrickson,

Not that it should register as much of a surprise, but Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson sounds like a possible third-place finisher for the team behind Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins when it comes to contract extensions.

Here's why the Cincinnati Bengals are allowing Trey Hendrickson to seek a trade and what it means moving forward.

Hendrickson, who led the league in sacks last season, will now shop around as the Bengals sort out extensions for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Armed with cap space and a coaching staff that believes in building through the trenches, Hendrickson sets up as a perfect player to slot in on that defense. One year after acquiring Montez Sweat to help bolster their defensive front, the Bears could secure Cincinnati's star to make the whole thing go.

Could Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson end up reuniting with one of his former defensive coordinators?

Arguably the toughest of those choices came on Thursday afternoon, when the team granted Hendrickson permission to seek a trade. It came just hours after fellow defensive stalwart Sam Hubbard announced his retirement from the NFL,

While the public reason for the Bengals’ lack of interest in a deal is that they are still looking to work out a long-term agreement with Higgins, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk notes, the optics may be as important to the Bengals as their actual plans for Higgins.