All Bengals

Film Breakdown: Why Bengals Star Trey Hendrickson is One of NFL's Best Pass Rushers

Mike Santagata

Oct 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) looks up after tackling Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (17) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
Oct 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) looks up after tackling Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (17) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
In this story:

Trey Hendrickson is once again having an excellent season rushing the passer.

The three-time Pro Bowler has seven sacks which is tied for the fourth most in the NFL. His 15 quarterback hits are the third-most in the league, he carries the third best pass rush win rate and is fourth in pressures.

Out of the top 10 leaders in sacks, his time to sack is the shortest. He has three multi-sack games and has done it in back-to-back weeks against the Giants and Browns. Overall, he’s been a incredible through the first seven weeks of the season.

Let’s take a closer look at Hendrickson as a pass rusher and see how he’s consistently gotten to opposing quarrterbacks:

Everything for Hendrickson starts with his get off. He’s a very explosive pass rusher who fires off of the ball with the best of them. Hendrickson has the ninth fastest get off among pass rushers in the NFL according to NextGenStats.

Not only does his physical ability help him fire off of the ball, but he anticipates the snap count and is able to jump at the sight of first movement. Naturally, one of the ways that Hendrickson wins as a pass rusher is around the outside. He simply turns the pass rush into a race to see who can reach the top of the drop faster. He got a sack against the Browns doing this:

There’s absolutely no wasted movement for Hendrickson on this play and it allows him to win the corner. He is able to rip through the hands and bend around the corner when he gets there to turn this from a win into a sack.

Another way that Hendrickson can weaponize his explosion is to use it to convert speed to power and pry open an offensive tackle’s inside shoulder:

When he gets beat to the spot, Hendrickson quickly recognizes this and then turns all of his speed into power as he drives right into the offensive tackle’s chest. The goal for Hendrickson on these plays is to win to the inside of the offensive tackle. It’s the shortest path to the quarterback for him and works extremely well off of his ability to win with speed to the outside.

The third way, and maybe the most common way for Hendrickson, is to win by beating the offensive tackle’s hands. Hendrickson has a chop club rip combination that he goes to frequently along with a swipe move that he will use to beat the hands. Generally he uses these moves to win around the outside rather than to the inside but it’s extremely effective either way.

Here is an example of Hendrickson using a chop rip combination against Andrew Thomas for a sack:

The goal Hendrickson on this play is to beat the outside hand of the tackle and he uses a chop to do that. The rip afterward is to keep those hands off of him as he continues to work to the quarterback.

Here is an example of Hendrickson using his swipe move to the outside:

The swipe is effective as he never allows the tackle’s hands to get on him on this play. That allows him to turn the corner and get to the quarterback at about eight yards of depth. There’s too much room for the quarterback to get up and around him though so it does not end in a sack.

Hendrickson also got an opportunity to go against the guard against the Giants and used a swipe to the inside to beat him.

It’s the same idea as his swipe to the outside. The goal of this move is to beat the hands and get a clean path to the quarterback. The ball comes out too quick for this to be a sack but he wins cleanly against the guard to get a free run to the quarterback.

Lastly, Hendrickson has done a solid job over the past three years of getting his hands up and batting the ball down when he can’t get to the quarterback. It’s rare for Hendrickson to not have a chance at getting to the quarterback, but when it happens he still finds a way to affect the passer:

Hendrickson gets a heavy chip on this play and by the time that defender leaves, the ball is coming out. He recognizes this and jumps to knock the ball down. This is a great way to still punish teams even when they’re giving him extra attention.

Hendrickson is having another Pro Bowl season with no sign of slowing down. All of his stats are right in line with his history of being a top 5 pass rusher in the NFL. Teams still give him a ton of attention and treat him with respect as well. If he can continue this production throughout the season, then maybe he'll be an All-Pro for the first time in his career.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch the video below:

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

-----

Join the 48,000+ Bengals fans that subscribe to us on YouTube.

Follow us on Twitter: @BengalsTalkSI

Like Our Facebook Page

Follow on TikTok

Published
Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Home/AllBengals Insiders+