PFR’s latest poll produced quite the split, with at least 30% of readers viewing three of the Trey Hendrickson options as likely. Hendrickson’s comments Tuesday point to the NFL’s reigning sack champion aiming to avoid one of those paths.
Hendrickson made it clear today (via The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.) he will not play on his current contract in 2025. The ninth-year defensive end is due a $15.8MM base salary. The edge rusher market has climbed considerably this offseason, and Hendrickson’s deal was out of step with his production before the Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett extensions came to pass. This has created another Bengals standoff.
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The Bengals have burnished their reputation as a stubborn organization in recent years. They did not pay Jessie Bates at the 2022 franchise tag deadline, and they swatted away trade requests from Hendrickson and Tee Higgins last year. That came after the organization did the same following Jonah Williams‘ trade ask in 2023. Germaine Pratt has since requested a trade. Ja’Marr Chase held in last year, as a handful of his receiver draft classmates received extensions while he waited.
That said, the Bengals appeared to make a substantial effort to appease Joe Burrow this offseason by extending Higgins along with Chase. Those deals, though, have complicated Hendrickson’s path back to Cincinnati. Following back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons, Hendrickson remains tied to the one-year, $21MM extension he signed in 2023. The former Saints draftee also has indicated this Bengals standoff has become “personal.”
Specifically, Hendrickson said Zac Taylor texted him to point out he would be fined by not reporting to the team’s June minicamp. This notification did not go over well with the disgruntled player, who described his lashing out at the Bengals today as “provoked.”
“A little bit transpired between me and Zac,” he said (via Dehner). “We’ve tried to keep it as least amount as personal as possible, but at some point in this process, it’s become personal. Being sent 30 days before mandatory camp, or how many ever days it is, that if I don’t show up, I will be fined, alludes to the fact that something won’t get done in that timeframe.
“With the lack of communication post-draft made it imminently clear to my party — meaning my wife, my son and my agent, a small group of people — that I had (to) inform that this might not work out. I don’t think it was necessary. I think we should have all hoped for the best until proven otherwise.”
The Bengals did give Hendrickson an extension, but that came via a one-year bump. In a rather interesting statement, Hendrickson said (via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kelsey Conway) he only signed that deal due to fear Cincinnati would use its franchise tag on him in 2025.
As it turned out, the Higgins standoff from 2024 bled into this offseason, and Hendrickson would have hit free agency at 30 had he not signed that Bengals extension. Burrow’s push for the team to retain Higgins this offseason effectively dropped Hendrickson in the team’s priority queue, but thanks to that extension, he is tied to the team for one more year. Considering Hendrickson’s age (31 in December), that extension has hurt him in an effort to capitalize on his recent production.
Hendrickson referred to the situation having become personal in recent weeks when asked if he wanted to remain a Bengal. No extension talks have transpired recently, refuting a post-draft report that indicated otherwise. The team has rejected multiple trade offers, after letting Hendrickson attempt to find a trade partner, but other teams had viewed Cincinnati’s asking price — reportedly more than a first-rounder — as unrealistic. An acquiring team would both need to surrender a high-end trade package and authorize an extension that would come in north of $30MM per year. With Crosby now at $35.5MM AAV, Hendrickson would have a case to push for that number. Deals for T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons and Aidan Hutchinson stand to further shift the top of the market.
“I’m not going to apologize for the rates of the defensive ends being paid in the National Football League,” Hendrickson said, discussing the Bengals’ lack of an offer in the ballpark the NFL’s top edge defenders have established. Thanks to the Vikings’ one-year add-on for Andrew Van Ginkel, Hendrickson is now the NFL’s 11th-highest-paid EDGE.
While Watt, Parsons and Hutchinson paydays could give Hendrickson more ammo, the Bengals’ past also indicates they are comfortable holding players to contracts. The team would appear ready to bet Hendrickson would not pass on near-$1MM game checks during his crusade. Though, Hendrickson appears ready to display resolve on this front come training camp.
While the four-time Pro Bowler stopped short of indicating he was completely done with the Bengals, this relationship has clearly soured in Year 5. The Bengals added Shemar Stewart in the first round as well.
“I think every relationship is repairable, right?” he said, via Dehner. “Like, I think Myles Garrett proved that he’s a great man, and he’s done great things for his family, and obviously providing on and off the football field. But I think that relationship will repair with time. And same with this. This is just the uncomfortable business side that we’ve unfortunately had to deal with for the last couple years, and, quite frankly, I think we’re all spent.”
It took a market-resetting offer for the Browns to bring Garrett back into the fold. An extension surely would solve the Hendrickson problem, but with the team changing course and paying Higgins, it is far from certain the accomplished defensive end will see another Cincy payday.
Not seeing big money this year also could hurt Hendrickson long term, as he will be slightly less valuable at 31 next year. That has undoubtedly spurred his crusade this offseason, and the effort shows no signs of slowing down.
