Things are going from bad to worse for the Cincinnati Bengals and Trey Hendrickson. At first, it seemed like Hendrickson was going to be playing elsewhere. After all, the team (per Ian Rapoport) granted the 30-year-old permission to seek a trade.
Hendrickson is due for a new—and most likely very expensive—deal after signing a four-year, $60 million contract with the Stripes in 2021 as a free agent. Since then he's received a one-year $21 million extension that will end after this upcoming season. Hence this fun little ongoing feud between the two parties.
Hendrickson is rightly frustrated. He's not looking to be paid like Myles Garrett, because, you know, he actually wants to win. He just wants an extension to stay in Cincinnati and headline a defense that's pretty devoid of any other tangible talent. It seems like a reasonable request. He has had 17.5 sacks in each of the past two seasons, with no signs of slowing down.
So what exactly is going on? Well, Hendrickson is getting tired of this petty waiting game and is now going for jugulars. His latest outburst will have Ravens fans rolling.
Trey Hendrickson calls out Bengals for terrible contract negotiating
The team knew Hendrickson wanted—and earned—an extension. But instead of locking him down, they’ve been too busy obsessing over Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase to keep Joe Burrow’s passing game fully stocked.
Safe to say patience is running thin on Hendrickson's side and after Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn essentially told him "he gets what he gets and he shouldn't get upset," we took to the Pat McAfee Show to air his grievances.
Hendrickson said there was barely any communication between the Bengals and his camp. He thought Katie Blackburn’s comments were some kind of April Fool’s joke—until his agent confirmed they were real. Safe to say, the frustration is piling up fast:
"Those comments from Katie Blackburn were definitely disappointing, and communication has been poor over the last couple of months. It's been a little bit frustrating, and if they have anything they'd like to discuss, we're definitely willing to listen. When I say that communication has been poor, I mean that it's been here and there. We don't have any desire to be the highest paid, and we've tried to be as patient as possible. Three years ago, I began to ask for a long-term contract with guaranteed money. It was very confusing to read what I read yesterday."
Talk about fireworks. What a hilarious situation brewing in Cincy. I mean not only is Hendrickson running out of patience, but team execs are coming out of nowhere to throw potshots at their only good defender. You can't make it up.
It really seems like Hendrickson is going about this all wrong. If he wants to actually get paid and feel valuable to the franchise, he should switch to wide receiver. Maybe then he'll matter to the organization. Another alternative would be to just trade him out of the division so he no longer terrorizes Lamar Jackson and the Ravens—food for thought.