The Baltimore Ravens went shopping for a headline pass rusher, watched a blockbuster trade collapse, and still walked out with one of the NFL’s most productive edge defenders.

Baltimore agreed to sign free agent defensive end Trey Hendrickson to a four year, $112 million contract that can reach $120 million with incentives. The deal includes $60 million fully guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus.

The move landed hours after the Ravens’ trade agreement for Raiders star Maxx Crosby fell apart. Las Vegas publicly stated that Baltimore “backed out” of the trade, and a report described the Ravens’ concerns as stemming from Crosby’s knee condition after medical review. That deal would have cost Baltimore two first round picks, including the No. 14 selection in the 2026 draft, plus a 2027 first rounder, so the Hendrickson signing gives the Ravens their edge rusher without surrendering that draft capital.

Hendrickson, 31, arrives from a division rival after the Cincinnati Bengals decided not to use the franchise tag on him last week. The 2026 tag would have paid him $24.434 million for one season, and Cincinnati chose not to lock him in at that number ahead of free agency.

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The money in Baltimore is the kind of long term security Hendrickson had been seeking. It also reflects how aggressively the Ravens wanted a difference maker off the edge after a season where pressure was hard to come by. Baltimore finished 2025 with 30 sacks, a bottom of the league total.

The signing is also a bet on Hendrickson returning to his peak form after an abbreviated 2025 season. Hendrickson’s year ended early after core muscle surgery, and he played only seven games (all starts). In those seven games he recorded 16 tackles, including four sacks, with one forced fumble and eight quarterback hits while playing 59% of the defensive snaps.

Even with the shortened season, Hendrickson’s track record is why the market moved quickly once he hit it. His recent production before the injury was elite by any standard, including back to back 17.5 sack seasons in 2023 and 2024. His ability to turn pressures into drive killing plays is the centerpiece of his profile, and Baltimore is paying for that disruption to show up immediately in the AFC North.

For Cincinnati, the departure closes a long contract saga that never found a clean landing. Hendrickson’s last year with the Bengals was already complicated by the injury and by the organization’s broader roster math, which has been under constant pressure from top-of-market contracts at premium positions.

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For Baltimore, the timing is sharp. The Ravens needed a pass rusher, they nearly solved it with a trade, then pivoted to a contract as the new league year approached. The NFL’s negotiating period opened March 9 and contracts can be signed starting March 11, when the new league year begins.

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