If the Buffalo Bills’ win over the reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs proved anything, it was that now is the time for the Bills to take a big swing.
Entering Sunday’s matchup, many expected the Bills to get blown out by the Chiefs and sink right back into the pit of despair with nine weeks remaining in the regular season. Instead, Buffalo came through with a convincing win, which has placed them right back into the Super Bowl discussion.
And one more significant addition could help them earn their first ever Lombardi
Trophy.
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Oct 26, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) runs out to the field before the game against the New York Jets at Paycor Stadium. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
With things once again trending in the right direction, perhaps more so than they have all season, the perfect moment to make a blockbuster trade has presented itself to General Manager Brandon Beane. Like a group of Avengers in search of the final Infinity Stone, the Bills need just one more missing piece to push themselves over the edge: Cincinnati Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported on Monday that the Bengals’ asking price remains high for Hendrickson, with a potential move requiring at least a first-round pick. And while Beane and company are always reluctant to part with top-end draft picks, there has never been a more opportune time for the Bills to do so than entering Week 10 of the 2025 campaign.
Injuries have piled up along the defensive line, with the most recent of which being a season-ending Achilles injury sustained by Michael Hoecht. With the Bills’ pass rush now in need of a boost similar to that which Hoecht provided through seven quarters, Hendrickson would be just that as Buffalo continues its pursuit of a world championship.
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Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) is sacked by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) during the second half at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Hendrickson is a four-time Pro Bowler and was honored as an All-Pro first-team selection for the first time a season ago, when he finished second in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year. Through seven games this season, Hendrickson has totaled four sacks, three tackles for loss and eight quarterback hits while delivering an impressive pressure rate of 13.6% while playing for one of the worst defenses in the league.
While he hasn’t experienced the same level of production that he did during back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons in 2023 and 2024, the 30-year-old pass rusher has plenty left in the tank and would change the dynamic of Buffalo’s defensive line.
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Sep 14, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) celebrates the win after the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paycor Stadium. / Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
On Sunday against the Chiefs, the Bills finished the game with 15 quarterback hits, providing the blueprint on how to impact Patrick Mahomes, who finished with the worst completion percentage of his career (44%) during the Kansas City defeat. Hoecht had helped bring the team’s rush unit to another level in his brief time since returning from a six-game suspension for PEDs, and now the reality that the Bills will be without him the rest of the year calls into question whether this group can keep things rolling.
If the Bills offered the house for Hendrickson and were able to land the big fish, those questions would dissipate rapidly. It may take a first-round pick and then some, but Hendrickson is a player worth remortgaging your house for. And the Bills should do just that to acquire the Cincinnati superstar.
It would take a bundle of draft picks, including at least one first-rounder, but this is a move the Bills should strongly consider before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline.
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It would cost the Bills $8 million in cap space to acquire Hendrickson, per Spotrac, which is something they don’t have at the moment. Buffalo carries just under $2 million of cap space entering Week 10. But as has proven before, there are always ways to work around the cap if a team finds something worthy of doing so.
And Hendrickson is worth it, despite being a free agent at the end of the year.
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