There’s a subtle, yet substantial, difference between giving a player permission to seek a trade and listening to trade offers for the player.

As to Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, the former happened months ago. The latter is reportedly occurring now .

The goal, as we understood it at the time, for allowing Hendrickson to seek a trade was to allow him to realize that no other team would be willing to pay him what he wants. The fact, as it has been reported, that the Bengals are currently listening to offers for Hendrickson’s contract implies that one or more teams are now willing to pay him more than the Bengals have offered.

The market has changed since Hendrickson first tried to find a trade. That happened in the aftermath of the Raiders signing defensive end Maxx Crosby

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