The Ravens are paying Trey Hendrickson like a star pass rusher. Can he keep going in his 30s?

Join the huddle. Sign up here for Ravens updates in your inbox.

On Thursday, the Ravens made outside linebacker Trey Hendrickson their highest-paid acquisition in franchise history. On Friday, coach Jesse Minter underscored the value of his four-year, $112 million contract.

“When we talk about being able to have a closer mentality and finish games and dominate in the fourth quarter, Trey is the epitome of that,” Minter said. Hendrickson’s 33 sacks in the fourth quarter and overtime have led the NFL since 2019. “Couldn’t be more excited to add him.”

The Ravens know the damage Hendrickson has wrought. Over his five seasons with the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals, he had 61 sacks and 120 quarterback hits in 72 games. Hendrickson’s four sacks in an injury-shortened 2025 season would’ve ranked third on a Ravens team that finished with 30 sacks total, tied for the second fewest in team history.

Now the Ravens are betting that the 31-year-old — and his contract — will age gracefully at one of the sport’s most important positions. Hendrickson’s deal includes $60 million guaranteed and is set to end weeks after he turns 36. A 2021 Pro Football Focus study found that edge rushers tend to decline at age 30 or older, and only four of the 17 defenders who had double-digit sacks last season entered Week 1 at least 30 years old: the New Orleans Saints’ Cameron Jordan, Detroit Lions’ Al-Quadin Muhammad, Houston Texans’ Danielle Hunter and Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett.

“I think he’s got a lot left in the tank,” general manager Eric DeCosta said at Hendrickson’s introductory news conference. “I think one of the things about Trey is … he impacted the games when he was in New Orleans [where he started his career], but it took him a while to get going. And so he’s got fresh legs. Look at this guy. He’s going to be ready to roll. And he’s fresh and he’s healthy and he’s strong. And he’s ready to do some damage.”

Hendrickson missed just three games over his first four years in Cincinnati, but wear and tear took their toll last season. He appeared in just seven games, his fewest in a season since 2018, and underwent core muscle surgery in early December. In Week 6, Hendrickson suffered what was initially described as a back injury. The injury was later termed a hip injury, and then a hip/pelvis injury. When asked for clarity about his medical situation, coach Zac Taylor told local reporters: “It’s kind of all that.”

Hendrickson said he was cleared to resume football activities in January and was excited to “rebuild my body and to mold it in the way I want it to play.” He didn’t seem to have lost a step last season, when he had one of the NFL’s fastest get-off times. Among starting defensive linemen, only Garrett and the San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa were quicker crossing the line of scrimmage, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Baltimore has been a launchpad in recent years for veteran edge rushers considered past their prime — Justin Houston, Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy — and DeCosta was confident that Hendrickson would play “a very, very long time and do really well.”

“You just go off the tape,” he said. “He’s quick. He’s fast. He’s aggressive. He’s got great hand use. He can bend. He finishes. He chases, retraces. Whatever you need him to do, he can do it. I love the passion he plays with. He knows our division. He’s a student of the game. He knows the personnel.”

Hendrickson “caused a lot of problems for us” in Cincinnati, DeCosta said. The Ravens have needed a marked man for their own pass rush. DeCosta agreed to a deal for Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby last Friday, but their trade fell apart Tuesday over medical concerns. With uncertainty over the Ravens’ potential options in the first round of next month’s draft, DeCosta also targeted Hendrickson, whom Minter called a “game wrecker” and “force multiplier.”

Hendrickson said he was excited to “start fresh” in Baltimore, where he said the Ravens’ standard of success is “unmatched across the league.”

“I want the other 10 guys to count on me,” he said. “If we’re in a place and it’s a pinch, you got to have gas in the tank, and you got to be able to push when everybody else doesn’t want to. … Fourth quarter is always when you push the most. You finish your gassers, and it’s instilled in OTAs [organized team activities] and training camp, and being in that position has been an incredible honor, and I plan on continuing to push myself to be the best I can be.”