Most underappreciated Bengal: Trey Hendrickson

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(10-14-2023, 12:57 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I don't think Hendrickson will be this dominant as long as Atkins was, but if he was, he'd be in the HOF conversation as well.

I'm just looking at it this way. There were times when Atkins carried the pass rush, and Hendrickson is very much doing the same thing.

As far as Dunlap, we can agree to disagree. Run defense is overrated, imo. The guys who get the most accolades are the guys bringing it to the QB's, and Hendrickson does that better than Dunlap did for the majority of his career. You can sub in a guy for the run.

I love those 2 dudes. Especially Atkins. I meant no disrespect to them, and I doubt they'd take a Trey Hendrickson comparison as an insult. The dude is a baller. I don't think his peak will last long, but it's as good as any peak I've seen, imo.

The Bengals 5-13 record against the Browns and Ravens under Anarumo would disagree that run defense is overrated. Being able to stop the run (and in today's NFL being able to keep the QB contained) is still extremely important.

The Eagles nearly broke an all-time sack record... but couldn't get a single sack in the SB because they got ran all over by the Chiefs.

Also being a good run defender separates the great DEs from the elite DEs.

- - - - - 

I do think it is kind of a disrespect to pair the two up when you say he's just as impactful. Hendrickson is great, but there's a reason he's not an All-Pro, or why he wasn't ranked the 29th best player in the NFL by his peers like Atkins was. If we want people to take our players seriously as Hall of Fame candidates, we can't be comparing them to clearly lesser (even if great) players just because they're current and we like them.

Actually reminds me a bit of when people early were trying to say AJ Green was the best WR the Bengals have ever had. Like Chad wasn't arguably the best WR in the NFL for a 3 year span and a top-3 WR for a 5 year span. Not to say AJ wasn't great, he was, but Chad just reached a completely different peak.