FRISCO – NFL reigning sacks leader Trey Hendrickson wants to leave the Cincinnati Bengals. That is there problem.

The Dallas Cowboys have around $32 million under the salary cap. Is that their solution?

It’s right around July 4, the slowest time of the year for “news” in the NFL, with rosters set and training camps still weeks away.

Add it all together, and lots of purported insiders and analysts are throwing “Hendrickson” and “Cowboys” together in headlines to see it it sticks. They use words like “urged” or “proposed” or “blockbuster” or even “connected.”

There’s lots of Hendrickson to Cowboys keyword smoke. But absolutely no fire.

The latest to join the fray is a site called Last Word on Sports. Their supposed reason for writing about the potential blockbuster trade of Hendrickson to Dallas?

“The Dallas Cowboys have been stacking up on talent defensively ever since they hired new defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus,” LWOS writes. “After signing Jack Sanborn and trading for Kenneth Murray Jr., they have some type of life following Demarcus Lawrence’s departure. The hope is that they can extend Micah Parsons, but it would be interesting to see if Dallas could one day get Hendrickson to boost them to a well-rounded defensive line.”

“Interesting” and “journalism” are not the same thing.

We’ve checked with the Cowboys on this. They recognize that this is no more than some fan-run sites playing Fantasy Football.

Hendrickson led the NFL with 17.5 sacks in 2024. He wants a new contract, and might hold out of training camp looking for a hefty raise. The Bengals aren’t biting (yet), and gave him permission to seek a trade.

But the truth? Hendrickson will likely cost $30 million a year. The Cowboys are currently negotiating a new contract with Parsons.

They’re not going to dump their entire salary cap on Hendrickson. … and they are not in the end going to employ a pair of pass-rushers – awesome as a Micah/Trey combo sounds – at a cost of $70 million APY.

The Cowboys report for training camp July 21 in Oxnard, California. … where we hope a Micah deal quiets the ongoing empty media game.