The deadline passed on Tuesday afternoon, and within minutes Trey Hendrickson posted his goodbye to Cincinnati on Instagram. The last five years have been filled with great wins and tough losses, he wrote. It was gracious. It was final. And if you're a Buccaneers fan, it was the starting gun on one of the most consequential free agency decisions this organization has faced in years.
Adam Schefter said it plainly on Pardon My Take: "I think that he would love to be in Tampa." Hendrickson is a native of Apopka, outside Orlando, currently living in Ponte Verde near Jacksonville. He wants to come home to Florida. The Jaguars are his first preference geographically but don't have the cap room. That puts the team across the state squarely in play.
Tampa wants him. He wants Tampa. The only thing standing between this marriage and reality is a salary cap situation that requires some creative surgery — and the lingering question of whether Jason Licht has the stomach to sign another 31-year-old pass rusher after what happened with Haason Reddick.
The Best Pass Rusher
Available. By a Mile.
Let's not overthink what Trey Hendrickson is. Since 2021, only Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt have more sacks. His pass-rush win rate sits above 20%. His PFF grade on true pass sets is 92.5. These are numbers that define an elite, week-in-week-out threat — the kind of player Todd Bowles' defense has been trying to manufacture pressure without for three straight years.
The Buccaneers ranked 18th in sacks last season. They finished 8-9. The defense that looked like a strength through six weeks fell apart down the stretch, and pass rush was at the center of it. Tampa was blitzing constantly not because Bowles loves it philosophically, but because they had no choice. Add Hendrickson, and that equation changes.
The 2025 injury is real — a core muscle issue cut his season to seven games and four sacks — but it was a mechanical failure, not a sign of decay. The year before, he put up 17.5 sacks, leading the entire NFL. When this man is healthy and on the field, he is one of the five best pass rushers alive.
The contract structure matters. Two years, front-loaded, with performance incentives and voidable language in year two. That's how you sign a 31-year-old pass rusher without making a mistake the organization can't climb out of. The risk is real but manageable — and it's a very different risk than the one Tampa took on Reddick.
The Money Is Tight.
Not Impossible.
Here's where the conversation gets uncomfortable. Hendrickson's market value sits around $51 million over two years. Tampa's projected available cap space entering free agency is roughly $23 million. That gap is real and it doesn't close on its own.
But the Buccaneers have a path. Restructuring is the tool, and the roster has several obvious candidates. A max restructure of Tristan Wirfs alone opens up approximately $18.25 million in immediate cap space. He's young, he's a foundational piece, and converting his salary into a signing bonus spread across future years is a low-drama move. Add Luke Goedeke — another straightforward restructure worth around $16.7 million — and you've created $35 million in new room before touching anything else. Add Antoine Winfield Jr. if needed and you're approaching $49 million in total flexibility. That makes Hendrickson not just possible, but comfortable.
| Player | Position | 2026 Cap Hit | Max Space Created |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tristan Wirfs | OT | $36.3M | ~$18.3M |
| Luke Goedeke | RT | $22.7M | ~$16.7M |
| Antoine Winfield Jr. | S | ~$13.7M | ~$14M |
| Chris Godwin | WR | $33.7M | ~$16.5M |
| Vita Vea | DT | $22.2M | Significant |
| Wirfs + Goedeke + Winfield Combined | ~$49M | ||
Licht isn't touching all of those. Godwin's injury history makes pushing more dead money down the road feel risky. Baker Mayfield's contract is better left alone given the dead cap implications in 2027. But Wirfs and Goedeke are obvious, Winfield is available if needed, and none of those moves compromise the 2026 roster. This is solvable. The will just has to be there.
Why Not Just
Trade for Maxx Crosby?
There's been a competing school of thought that involves trading for Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. His name has floated in Bucs circles for over a year, and the appeal is obvious — younger, elite, one of the best pass rushers in football over a sustained run. But the cost of that acquisition is steep. We're talking first-round picks, potentially multiple, plus the cap obligations on his deal. You'd be gutting the very draft capital Tampa needs to build the rest of this roster.
Hendrickson in free agency costs money but it doesn't cost picks. In a year where Tampa holds the 15th overall selection, preserving that capital matters. You can pay Hendrickson and still draft a cornerback, a linebacker, or the best player available on your board. You cannot trade two firsts for Crosby and do anything else meaningful with this roster. One is a bold investment. The other is a ransom.
Restructure Wirfs. Restructure Goedeke. Sign the best pass rusher on the market. Don't send Las Vegas a ransom when the open market is handing you the same answer.
This Isn't the Same
as Last Year.
The easy counterargument to Hendrickson is Haason Reddick. Tampa signed a 31-year-old former All-Pro edge rusher last offseason and got almost nothing for their money. The comparison is surface-level valid and worth taking seriously.
But there's a critical distinction. Reddick came to Tampa already in decline — he'd managed just one sack with the Jets in 2024 and showed clear signs that his best football was behind him. That wasn't hidden information. It was visible on film before the contract was signed. Hendrickson, by contrast, led the entire NFL in sacks in 2024 with 17.5. The 2025 season was cut short by a core muscle injury — a mechanical issue, not a signal of declining athleticism or diminished instinct. The production trajectory is different. The moment of signing is different. The risk profile is not the same.
Joey Bosa:
If the Draft Delivers
If Tampa secures an edge rusher in the draft — say Cashius Howell falls to 46 — there's a legitimate argument for Joey Bosa as the more economical bridge. Released by the Bills after a solid 2025 campaign that saw him log five sacks and lead the league in forced fumbles across 15 games, Bosa's market value is projected around $13-14 million on a short-term deal. That's a fraction of Hendrickson's ask.
Bosa at 30 still brings functional pass-rush moves and the experience to contribute on third downs. The calculus is simple: if you feel confident your first or second-round edge pick can start and produce immediately, Bosa is the bridge. If you don't — and given recent history, that skepticism is entirely warranted — Hendrickson is the floor, not the ceiling. Which brings us to the part of this conversation that doesn't get said loudly enough.
Chris Braswell
and the Draft Bet That Failed
Jason Licht already tried to solve this position through the draft. It failed.
Chris Braswell was a second-round pick in 2024 — the 57th overall selection out of Alabama. The pitch was everything you'd want: elite athleticism, legitimate first-step burst, led the SEC in pressures in 2023. Two years later, Braswell has never made a single NFL start. He has 2.5 career sacks across 34 games. He went from playing 30% of defensive snaps as a rookie to 27% in year two, somehow losing playing time even as the starting edge rusher missed games with injury.
ESPN's Aaron Schatz has publicly called for Tampa to cut him and let him start fresh somewhere else. This was a Day 2 pick that played like a late-roster bubble player. The potential was real on paper. The development never came. And every week Braswell didn't produce, the Bucs were back at square one at a position that dictates whether a defense functions or folds entirely.
The argument that Tampa can just draft their way out of this problem in 2026 requires ignoring that they tried exactly that in 2024. Could Cashius Howell become elite? Absolutely — that's why he's on my board. But his development timeline is 12 to 18 months. This team's window is right now.
Make the Move.
Find the Money.
The path is clear, even if it isn't easy. Restructure Wirfs. Restructure Goedeke. That alone creates roughly $35 million in working cap space before you touch another contract. Add Winfield if necessary and you're approaching $50 million in flexibility. Then you go get Hendrickson on a two-year deal, structured to protect the organization if the hip becomes a recurring issue. Keep the 15th pick. Use the second round to add edge depth that can develop behind a healthy, motivated veteran who already knows how to win.
The window this organization is operating in — with Baker Mayfield on an expiring contract, a defense that needs to rediscover its identity, and a fan base that watched an 8-9 collapse — is not designed for patience. It's designed for decisive action.
The Bottom Line
Trey Hendrickson wants to wear red and pewter. He wants to be home. Tampa needs what he brings more desperately than almost any team he could sign with. The Reddick mistake was real. The Braswell mistake was real. But the answer to two bad decisions isn't paralysis — it's a better decision. The cap math is uncomfortable but it's solvable, and teams that win do the uncomfortable work when the window is open. March 9, the tampering window opens. March 11, the league year begins. The clock is running.