The Baltimore Ravens needed to go out and find an elite edge rusher for 2026, and for all intents and purposes, were willing to move heaven and earth to do so.
The player they ended up with, NFL All-Pro Trey Hendrickson, cost a pretty penny with a 4-year, $112 million free-agent contract that not everyone is a fan of.
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon called Baltimore’s big spend on Hendrickson the “NFL’s Worst Contract” for the upcoming season.
Hendrickson’s new deal includes $60 million in guaranteed money.
“The 31-year-old is coming off a season derailed by lingering core muscle injuries,” Gagnon wrote. “There’s a good chance that contributes to his decline entering his 10th season, paving the way for this panic signing to backfire on the Ravens. Hendrickson is slated to cost the team $34.5 million in his age-35 season in 2029. Watch for the Ravens to wind up paying a $27 million dead-cap charge just to make him go away in 2028.”
Signing Trey Hendrickson Called ‘Panic Move’
The Ravens didn’t win any friends when they backed out of a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for NFL All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby that would have sent a pair of 1st round picks to the Raiders.
In the wake of the Crosby fiasco, the Ravens moved quickly to sign former Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Hendrickson — a player who has tortured the Ravens for years.
That’s big money to spend on a 31-year-old former All-Pro coming off his worst season since 2019 after Hendrickson finished with just 4.0 sacks in 2025, and Gagnon went on the record previously to say the move will “backfire” on the Ravens in 2026.
“Baltimore was clearly in the market for a veteran pass-rusher to bolster a defense that struggled to make plays, generate pressure and limit opposing offense altogether in 2025. In this case, they took one away from a division rival as well,” Gagnon wrote. “This was probably a panic move after a deal for Maxx Crosby fell through due to medical concerns. The problem is, Hendrickson is 31 years old and coming off a season derailed by lingering core muscle injuries. Entering his 10th season, he might not have a lot left in the tank. And yet, the team is financially married to him for the next three years. They might have been better off bringing back the younger and cheaper Odafe Oweh.”
Oweh signed his own big-money deal — a 4-year, $100 million contract with the Washington Commanders.
Big-Money Incentives Await Trey Hendrickson
Hendrickson, 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, had consecutive seasons with 17.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024. He led the NFL in sacks in 2024 on the way to earning NFL All-Pro honors and is a 4-time Pro Bowler.
With his new deal with the Ravens, he will receive an additional $500,000 for hitting 8, 10, 12, and 14 sacks each season — a cushy $2 million in incentives.
Hendrickson spent the entirety of the 2 years leading up to signing with the Ravens in a nasty contract dispute with the Bengals as he sought a long-term contract extension, including multiple trade requests. He finally signed a 1-year, $29 million contract in August 2025 but was largely sidelined as the Bengals went 6-11 and missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season.
With such a down year, Hendrickson’s asking price of $30 million had gone down significantly — until the Crosby deal fell through.
Ravens’ $112 Million Free Agent Deal Called ‘NFL’s Worst Contract’