5 edge rushers Detroit Lions could trade for to replace Aidan Hutchinson
4. Travon Walker, Jacksonville Jaguars
Heading into Week 6, ESPN's Ben Solak offered up a trade proposal sending Walker to the Lions for two fourth-round picks. It was hard to see the Jaguars considering it at all, let alone for such a low cost. Within that premise, it was possible to make case the Lions could make a better offer than Solak's proposal.
That was of course on the idea of pairing Walker with Hutchinson, which itself would be a quite a story after Jacksonville took Walker over Hutchinson with the first overall pick in the 2022 draft. Then the Jaguars looked awful on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, to drop to 1-5 on the season themselves.
Inconsistency is definitely a thing with Walker, with all five of his sacks this season coming in two games and five of his 10 sacks last season coming over the final four games. But the raw talent seems to be there, and maybe Lions' defensive line coach Terrell Williams could full tap it.
3. Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals shouldn't ever be written off, but even after getting to 2-4 with an ugly win over the New York Giants Sunday night the odds are against them making the playoffs. So that makes someone like Hendrickson, who is under contract through 2025 but asked for a trade back in April, a potential trade candidate.
Hendrickson played for the New Orleans Saints from 2017-2020, overlapping with Lions' head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn there when they were on Sean Payton's staff. In his final season in New Orleans, he started to become the pass rusher he is now with 13.5 sacks. So he may have two advocates in the room at Allen Park, as the Lions start to consider options to replace Hutchinson.
Hendrickson will turn 30 in December, which may further bolster the idea the Bengals would listen to trade offers. He has cap hits of $20.17 million this year and $18.7 million next year, which the Lions can make work before more significant cap numbers start to hit their books. That said, perhaps why he asked for a trade, the fully guaranteed base salary in his current contract was done last season even if he got a pay bump last year.
The Bengals may not be an easy trade deadline seller. But they also aren't inclined to pay people big contracts (other than Joe Burrow). While Hendrickson was a good soldier and showed up for everything (OTAs, training camp) after his trade request, his desire for better long-term security is clear.
Hendrickson was No. 1 on our list of potential trade replacements for Davenport. He falls down a bit here, based on the notion the Bengals won't easily trade anyone they may get offers for. He's more like a "No. 2B" option to replace Hutchinson than a full No. 3.