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.

[RELATED: Hendrickson Holdout Squarely On Radar]

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.

MAY 13: Hendrickson is not taking part in Tuesday’s Bengals practice, but Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic notes he is in attendance. Hendrickson is expected to speak to the media later today, so he could provide further insight shortly into his situation.

MAY 12: No resolution is in sight in the case of Trey Hendrickson. The All-Pro edge rusher’s latest remarks make it clear the Bengals are not actively speaking about an extension with his representatives.

“No communication has taken place between my camp and the organization post draft,” a statement Hendrickson provided to ESPN’s Adam Schefter reads. “The [extension] offers prior to the draft did not reflect the vision we shared and [which] were promised last offseason if I continued to play at a high level. Coaches are aware of these past conversations.

“Rather than using collaboration to get us to a point to bring me home to the team, THEY are no longer communicating. I have been eagerly awaiting a resolution of this situation, but that’s hard to do when there is no discussion and an evident lack of interest in reaching mutual goals.”

Throughout the offseason, questions have loomed about whether or not the Bengals would be able to extend wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins while also working out a new deal with Hendrickson. Chase and Higgins are on the books for the foreseeable future, and Cincinnati’s intention leading up to the draft remained an agreement with Hendrickson. Multiple trade offers were rejected, an indication the team was still pursuing a long-term accord.

Team and player previously worked out a stop-gap deal in preparation for a lucrative extension, something Hendrickson sought last year. He did not engage in a holdout in response to Cincinnati declining to meet that request, a move which saw him duplicate 2023’s sack total (17.5). That figure led the NFL and yielded Hendrickson a fourth straight Pro Bowl nod. He is in line for a pact bringing with it a significant raise, and the top of the EDGE market now sits at $40MM per year.

Given his age, Hendrickson may not reach the top of his position’s financial pecking order, but a major accord would bring with it major Bengals cap implications. The FAU product has previously gone public with his displeasure over his situation and a lack of communication with the team. Given these latest comments, that problem apparently persists.

Opinions are split amongst PFR’s readers with respect to what will happen in this case. Hendrickson remains a candidate to be traded, extended or depart on the open market next spring. As things stand, a Cincinnati pact beyond 2025 would require considerable progress in negotiations.

The Bengals are at a stalemate with Trey Hendrickson. The team has yet to meet his demand for a contract extension or a trade, which could lead him to hold out this summer, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Hendrickson is due $16MM in 2025, the final year of his contract. After leading the league in sacks on the way to a first-team All-Pro selection in 2024, he wants a new deal that pays him as one of the league’s top edge rushers and keeps him in Cincinnati for the foreseeable future. If the Bengals won’t pay him, he’d prefer to be traded to a team that will.

If the team doesn’t meet either of those demands, Hendrickson seems prepared to skip OTAs and potentially continue a holdout into training camp. That would leave the Bengals without their best defensive player as they install a new scheme under new defensive coordinator Al Golden.

Missing Hendrickson during training camp would be concerning, but manageable. An extended holdout into the regular season, however, could be disastrous for a Cincinnati defense that lacks another pass-rushing threat. Hendrickson was responsible for 17.5 of the team’s 36 sacks last year; no other Bengal posted more than 5.0. That should give him significant leverage in the coming months, especially since the team declined to add any proven pass-rushing talent this offseason.

The Bengals did draft Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart, a pick that has largely been viewed in the context of Hendrickson’s contract situation. While the two had similar frames and athletic profiles as prospects, Stewart’s lack of college production makes it unlikely he can make up for the potential absence of his veteran teammate right away. The Bengals already needed a second starter on the edge after parting ways with Sam Hubbard this offseason, so selecting Stewart was likely more about finding a pass-rushing partner for Hendrickson rather than a direct replacement.

Cincinnati has engaged with Hendrickson on an extension, and their rejection of multiple trade offers indicates a desire to get a deal done. However, major financial commitments to Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Joe Burrow may deter the notoriously frugal franchise from giving a long-term market-level deal to Hendrickson. He’s stated a desire to stay in Cincinnati, but if the team has no designs to keep him past 2025 or trade him to a new team this summer, he may have to settle for a one-year raise and hope to cash in as a free agent next year.

The Bengals selected edge rusher Shemar Stewart with their first-round choice (No. 17 overall) in last month’s draft. The pick created speculation that fellow EDGE Trey Hendrickson – who has been looking for a new contract from Cincinnati for several years and who was given permission to seek a trade in March – may indeed be on his way out.

As The Athletic’s Dianna Russini noted in a recent Scoop City podcast, however, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor shot down that notion (video link). Of course, it is difficult to imagine Taylor saying anything that would reveal the club’s plans or weaken its negotiating position with teams interested in Hendrickson, but according to Russini, Taylor’s remarks were not mere coach-speak. She is still getting “good vibes” from the team with respect to this situation and believes Cincy is still working hard to hammer out an extension.

Per Russini, the Bengals are trying to “get creative” and “move money” to bridge the gap with Hendrickson. As it stands, the Bengals have $25MM of cap space and are projected to have over $72MM of room in 2026 – this despite the massive deals authorized for both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this offseason – so the resources do appear to be available.

Hendrickson, 30, signed a one-year extension in July 2023 that took the free agent contract he signed with the Bengals in 2021 through the upcoming 2025 campaign. As part of that contractual update, the four-time Pro Bowler received $21MM in new money, though the $15.8MM base salary he is scheduled to earn this year pales in comparison to the figures at the top of the exploding pass rusher market, which now features seven players enjoying AAVs of at least $28MM.

Having posted 17.5 sacks for the second consecutive year in 2024 en route to his first First Team All-Pro nod, Hendrickson understandably wants a contract commensurate with his market value. Despite the Bengals allowing him to look for a trade partner that would also greenlight a new mega-deal, they have set a lofty asking price in a trade and have rejected multiple offers from interested teams. The lack of movement in trade discussions could accelerate Cincinnati-Hendrickson talks, though traction in those negotiations has also been difficult to come by.

Since the Bengals seem unwilling to let Hendrickson go unless another team comes through with the type of trade package that presently appears unrealistic, Hendrickson may have to accept something of a discount if he wants to land a new multiyear pact in the near future. Russini acknowledges as much, and she believes he wants to stay in Cincinnati while confirming the team wants to retain him, so there may yet be a way for the parties to find common ground.

The Bengals ranked near the bottom of the league in terms of total defense, scoring defense, and sacks in 2024, so despite the Stewart addition, a Hendrickson departure (coupled with Sam Hubbard’s retirement) would certainly undermine the team’s attempts to return to the playoffs in 2025. 

The upcoming draft represents a logical deadline for the Trey Hendrickson situation to reach a resolution. If the reigning sack leader is to remain with the Bengals, it will not be for a lack of effort on the part of interested suitors to swing a trade.

Once again, Hendrickson is seeking a new deal after his efforts to secure an extension last spring did not produce an agreement (or a willingness on the Bengals’ part to entertain his trade request). This time around, Cincinnati granted the 30-year-old permission to seek a trade, a sign that team and player were far apart on contract terms. Since then, wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have each landed massive extensions, taking care of the two in-house players known to be higher organizational priorities.

However, extension talks have picked up on the Hendrickson front, and a report from late March indicated a trade was no longer receiving consideration. That represented an indication a long-term agreement could be worked out, but progress has proven to be difficult to come by. Hendrickson has gone public with his frustration over his situation, and as could be expected there remains a trade market as the countdown to the draft continues.

Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post reports “numerous teams” have unsuccessfully offered mid-round picks for Hendrickson, who will require an extension upon arrival with his next employer should a trade come to pass. He adds the Bengals have maintained an asking price of first-round value, which is roughly in line with where that previously stood. If no extension agreement is worked out over the coming days, the prospect of a trade will remain a major league storyline.

To little surprise, one executive predicted to La Canfora Hendrickson will be dealt at the draft in the event a new Bengals pact is not in place by that point. Cincinnati could stand to add multiple impact rookies on defense, and dealing the the four-time Pro Bowler would yield extra capital to meet that goal. On the other hand, losing Hendrickson would obviously create a massive roster hole along the edge as Cincinnati looks to improve in that spot with or without him in the fold.

The Bengals are currently projected to have over $85MM in 2026 cap space. Plenty of moves will be made to alter that figure before free agency next spring, of course, but the funds can be found to keep Hendrickson in place on a deal close to the top of the EDGE market. Unless traction in that regard is found soon, though, a trade will loom as a possibility.