CINCINNATI -- By the time the Cincinnati Bengals reached halftime of their Week 6 game against the Green Bay Packers, half of the team's plan to attack the season was in shambles.
Cincinnati was without star quarterback Joe Burrow, who was recovering from a turf toe injury that forced him to miss nine games. But the other half of the plan was about to fall apart, too.
Trey Hendrickson, the team's star defensive end, left the game early because of what was initially deemed a back injury. Over time, the nature of the injury became increasingly vague. But what it meant for the future was not.
He missed 10 games because of what was later ruled to be a core injury that required surgery. And with the former All-Pro and Pro Bowl player set to enter free agency, Cincinnati will spend the offseason figuring out how to retool its pass rush. And that is top of mind for Bengals de facto general manager Duke Tobin as the team prepares for a critical 2026.
"Pass rush is king," Tobin said in his end-of-year news conference Jan. 9. "You always need to be layering in pass rushers."
When the Bengals mapped out 2025, Cincinnati envisioned Hendrickson continuing his trajectory as one of the game's best pass rushers -- for at least one season. The spring was filled with acrimony between Hendrickson and the Bengals, resulting in a contract dispute that stretched into training camp and was eventually settled with a substantial raise that set his salary at $29 million.
But once the Week 6 injury occurred, the plan unraveled. Hendrickson attempted to come back two weeks later in Week 8 against the New York Jets. But he aggravated the injury, which frustrated Hendrickson, causing him to leave that loss early. Those 23 snaps in a stunning 39-38 loss were his last of the season -- and potentially his Bengals career.
His injury was cited as a reason for the team's 6-11 campaign, which caused Cincinnati to miss the playoffs for the third straight season and increased scrutiny on Tobin, coach Zac Taylor and all the key decision-makers inside the organization.
"The highest-paid guy on both sides of the ball weren't out there for us," Tobin said. "You need your closers, and you need your aces when it comes down to the fourth quarter and you need a stop."
Should Cincinnati move on from Hendrickson, as expected, the Bengals could chart a few paths. One could include re-signing defensive end Joseph Ossai, who wrapped up his fifth year with the Bengals and is set to cash in after a one-year "prove it" deal with the team that drafted him in 2021.
While posting five sacks for the second straight year, Ossai saw an uptick in pressure rate, pass rush win rate and sacks created. That should merit him a much bigger contract than the one that paid him $6.5 million last season.
"I think I did all right for myself," Ossai said with a smile the day after the season ended. "I'm very critical of myself, so there's definitely a lot more that I wanted to do. A lot more I could have done."
Should the Bengals and Hendrickson part ways, Cincinnati will have to account for $6.5 million in dead money for next year's cap, according to OverTheCap.com. But with an estimated $56.1 million in cap space for 2026, Cincinnati has the room to find effective pass rushers.
"We've seen some of that start to develop from within our team," Tobin said. "And then I think we need to find some from external sources as well."
Getting improved play from Myles Murphy, the team's 2023 first-round pick, was a major boost for the Bengals at the end of the season. That helped offset Hendrickson's loss to a degree. Shemar Stewart, the team's first-round pick who missed nine games last season because of injuries, is still a major unknown.
The Bengals will also have the 10th pick in April's draft, the team's highest draft position since 2021 and a byproduct of the Bengals' worst record since the start of the decade.
Cincinnati has no shortage of routes to explore in improving its defensive front this offseason. But if the Bengals want to be a playoff team again, Cincinnati must be aggressive in finding the right path forward -- with or without Hendrickson.