Trey Hendrickson Update

[*rfaulk34*]

(11 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote: You're contradicting yourself. First off, I'm not mad at him for having talent, and I'm not mad at him for wanting more money. If this were his stance next year, I would have no problem with it. If we are just going to tear up contracts and renegotiate players salaries every year, what's the point in having signed contracts? Yes, his agent is a dummy, and that's Trey's fault, not the Bengals. They are living up to their end of the deal, and even offered him a huge raise that they did not have to. 

That is where the disconnect is.

You're saying "huge raise". If you're badly underpaid...i have a hard time giving credit because you're giving someone a "huge raise". They're offering a huge raise that still leaves him making less than the top EDs. 

I'm not sure where i contradicted myself but something that comes to mind with what you're doing and what some others have done is...why are you so staunchly defending the Bengals front office? At what point have they EVER done anything that remotely says 'modern franchise', 'forward thinking' or anyting other than archaic, penny-pinching and stubborn?

What has the franchise ever done for you that causes you to want to defend them? Won some regular season games? Finally won some playoff games and made a super bowl? Do you realize that their inability to understand what it takes to be a championship franchise is why you've never been able to celebrate a SB victory? 

This front office is the #1 reason right now why Burrow, Chase, et.al., have not won any rings, with the way they've decided to build this team...yet here some are, still screaming from the rooftops that Brown and fam are doing things right. 

It bottles the mind.

[NUGDUKWE]

(11 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote: Yes he did, and he gushed about how well the Bengals treated him and allowed him to financially support his family and make this his home. Until the next year, when he wanted another renegotiation, and now another. I don't know why you all are supporting this madness. His word is meaningless anymore.
If the Bengals give him a 3-year deal at 30 million, he'll be back next year holding out for 40. It has to stop somewhere. Maybe it's because I'm old and from a time when a man's word meant something, but if I were Mike Brown, I'd tell Trey you will play here under the contract you signed, or you can retire, but if you do your career is over because if you try to re-enter the league we still own your rights to one year and can tag you twice. Good luck with your new contract when you're 33.

I seem to remember as more of a heres something for now and we'll do more later kind of contract extension. The last year of contracts only exist for mediocre players. Good players want paid and bad players get cut. According to Trey he was told they would do his contract after this last season so he's just holding them to they're word.
But telling a player to just accept it or retire and they can always tag them twice is terrible on alot of levels. You are treating a player in a way no other team in the league would. Not exactly gonna get free agents to want to come here. Trey has been a good player for us. The Bengals need to do him the service of paying or trading him for the best offer. 

[Sled21]

(10 hours ago)rfaulk34 Wrote: That is where the disconnect is.

You're saying "huge raise". If you're badly underpaid...i have a hard time giving credit because you're giving someone a "huge raise". They're offering a huge raise that still leaves him making less than the top EDs. 

I'm not sure where i contradicted myself but something that comes to mind with what you're doing and what some others have done is...why are you so staunchly defending the Bengals front office? At what point have they EVER done anything that remotely says 'modern franchise', 'forward thinking' or anyting other than archaic, penny-pinching and stubborn?

What has the franchise ever done for you that causes you to want to defend them? Won some regular season games? Finally won some playoff games and made a super bowl? Do you realize that their inability to understand what it takes to be a championship franchise is why you've never been able to celebrate a SB victory? 

This front office is the #1 reason right now why Burrow, Chase, et.al., have not won any rings, with the way they've decided to build this team...yet here some are, still screaming from the rooftops that Brown and fam are doing things right. 

It bottles the mind.

What makes you think I'm defending the Front Office? If Trey is badly underpaid, that is his fault and the fault of his incompetent agent, not the front office. The front office, like it or not, is a business. They offered him a raise they didn't have to in order to keep him happy. It failed and he came back wanting more. There's nothing in Hendrickson's history that says if they give him what he wants this year, he won't be doing the same thing next year. He wants to be paid like the top DE's, but he's not a top DE. He is an excellent pass rusher who is mediocre against the run. Having players like Burrow, Chase, and Higgins on deals means there is only so much more money to go around. Hendrickson could wait till next year when he's due a new contract, but I suspect he deep down knows his time is coming to an end and his performance will drop off. There's also precedents to be set, give Hendrickson a new contract every time he whines, and you don't think Chase will be doing the same thing when the next batch of receivers sign for more than him? After all, he will want to be paid like a top WR, right? At this point why even have contracts? Just pay these guys on 1-year deals and let them renegotiate every year.

[Sled21]

(10 hours ago)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I seem to remember as more of a heres something for now and we'll do more later kind of contract extension. The last year of contracts only exist for mediocre players. Good players want paid and bad players get cut. According to Trey he was told they would do his contract after this last season so he's just holding them to they're word.
But telling a player to just accept it or retire and they can always tag them twice is terrible on alot of levels. You are treating a player in a way no other team in the league would. Not exactly gonna get free agents to want to come here. Trey has been a good player for us. The Bengals need to do him the service of paying or trading him for the best offer. 

No team was willing to trade a 1st for him like he said they would. And they did him the service of offering him an extra 12 million this year on top of the 16 he was set to make. Sorry, and this really has nothing to do with defending the front office, but he's being a greedy spoiled child. That's my opinion and no one is going to change it. And I actually LIKE Hendrickson and am glad he's here. But he needs to grow up.

[NUGDUKWE]

(10 hours ago)rfaulk34 Wrote: That is where the disconnect is.

You're saying "huge raise". If you're badly underpaid...i have a hard time giving credit because you're giving someone a "huge raise". They're offering a huge raise that still leaves him making less than the top EDs. 

I'm not sure where i contradicted myself but something that comes to mind with what you're doing and what some others have done is...why are you so staunchly defending the Bengals front office? At what point have they EVER done anything that remotely says 'modern franchise', 'forward thinking' or anyting other than archaic, penny-pinching and stubborn?

What has the franchise ever done for you that causes you to want to defend them? Won some regular season games? Finally won some playoff games and made a super bowl? Do you realize that their inability to understand what it takes to be a championship franchise is why you've never been able to celebrate a SB victory? 

This front office is the #1 reason right now why Burrow, Chase, et.al., have not won any rings, with the way they've decided to build this team...yet here some are, still screaming from the rooftops that Brown and fam are doing things right. 

It bottles the mind.

I agree 100%. If they did offer him 28 per than it is probably really an avg of 24 counting this year, than it's probably only another year maybe two and doesn't have the guarantees. So we wouldn't be meeting him on any front. The fact he's signed with us says he probably accepts the low guarantees if we meet on years and salary.

But also the FO is a joke and they have a track record of treating players poorly by NFL standards. I get why people want to hang onto hope with them. But after this off-season the hope that they ever try and push all in to win is all but gone. They are either inept or don't care about winning as much as the other top teams do.

[Bengalitis]

(05-12-2025, 02:11 PM)J24 Wrote: He lead the NFL in pressures and Sacks last season; So why shouldn't he expect that type of money?

Trey has been consistent, it's not like it was just a one good season. He should be paid accordingly.

With that said, the FO know the bengals and the fandom is an offense team first and foremost, so they know theyll have tickets sold with Burrow-Teeggins-Chase, they are in no Rush to get that defensive guy Trey's contract reworked.

with a new D coach, they can blame it on that and look forward to the D players starting to gel with coach the following season.

That's their business model.

[NUGDUKWE]

(10 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote:
No team was willing to trade a 1st for him like he said they would. And they did him the service of offering him an extra 12 million this year on top of the 16 he was set to make. Sorry, and this really has nothing to do with defending the front office, but he's being a greedy spoiled child. That's my opinion and no one is going to change it. And I actually LIKE Hendrickson and am glad he's here. But he needs to grow up.

That's why I said best offer. Look i think Hendrickson would be worth a 3year extension. I think the data suggests a gradual decline. Not sure the Bengals use those analytics or maybe they just disagree. But if we don't think he's worth the money or don't trust giving him those years. Then just trade him for whatever you can get and start the rebuild of the defense.

[Housh]

Issue is Trey has no leverage other than hoping we totally suck without him which with Al Golden we may have cobble together enough wins in the first 8 games to survive

8 games plus a playoff run with Trey is worth more then a 2nd round pick and we all know it


It was always first or busy

Trey’s agent assured the Bengals when we allowed him to seek a trade that at least 1 team was willing to give a 1st and they weren’t which messed up the plan which was the trade Trey.

[*rfaulk34*]

(10 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote: What makes you think I'm defending the Front Office? If Trey is badly underpaid, that is his fault and the fault of his incompetent agent, not the front office. The front office, like it or not, is a business. They offered him a raise they didn't have to in order to keep him happy. It failed and he came back wanting more. There's nothing in Hendrickson's history that says if they give him what he wants this year, he won't be doing the same thing next year. He wants to be paid like the top DE's, but he's not a top DE. He is an excellent pass rusher who is mediocre against the run. Having players like Burrow, Chase, and Higgins on deals means there is only so much more money to go around. Hendrickson could wait till next year when he's due a new contract, but I suspect he deep down knows his time is coming to an end and his performance will drop off. There's also precedents to be set, give Hendrickson a new contract every time he whines, and you don't think Chase will be doing the same thing when the next batch of receivers sign for more than him? After all, he will want to be paid like a top WR, right? At this point why even have contracts? Just pay these guys on 1-year deals and let them renegotiate every year.

Well, when there are two sides to a situation and you're banging on one side that's not the Bengals...that leads me to believe you support the Bengals. 

That said, i don't want to be presumptuous or ill-informed so i went back and read your posts in this thread to confirm or deny. Starting with post #155. Here are some of the things you said about the Bengals;
"the bengals are honoring the contract"
"they are living up to their end of the deal"

Here are some of the things you've said about Trey;
"trey's angry he didn't get a raise"
"trey is acting very childish" (multiple times)
"quit trashing the Bengals"
"i don't really care if he plays or not, just stop whining"
"depends on how stupid he is"
"he needs to grow up"
"acting like a spoiled child"

Couldn't really find anything negative about the Bengals front office, so...

Results are in.

You support the Bengals front office. 

[007BengalsFan]

Trey wants a new contract every time other DEs start getting paid more. The Benglas have twice gave him contracts that put him toward the top of DE pay. Hendrickson has played 4 seasons for the Bengals and this is the 4th time he has come to the Bengals for a new contract, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025. At what point do you just play out your contract? Is Patrick Mahomes trying to redo his contract every year when these other QBs start getting paid more when he is the best in the NFL? Is Joe Burrow? Hendrickson isnt even on that level at his position yet every year he tries to redo his contract.

and lets stop this nonsense about Trey only making 16 million this year. That is a lie. The Bengals already gave him an 8 million signing bonus upfront for this season's extension and the money was spread out which lowered his cap hit this season. That doesnt mean Trey is making ~ 16 million this year when he has already been paid a huge chunk of money upfront for this season . Do we need to stop paying guys up front so they cant claim they arent getting paid in later years? When they have already taken later years money? If you were the Bengals negotiating a new contract with Trey would you want to give him a big paycheck upfront so in 2 or 3 years he could turn around and complain about his contract? Yes even 21 million is low considering how the other DE contracts have gone up but we cant have everyone trying to re-negotiate contracts every time some other guy gets more. Play out your contract and get paid when you are on the open market.

[Sled21]

(10 hours ago)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I agree 100%. If they did offer him 28 per than it is probably really an avg of 24 counting this year, than it's probably only another year maybe two and doesn't have the guarantees. So we wouldn't be meeting him on any front. The fact he's signed with us says he probably accepts the low guarantees if we meet on years and salary.

But also the FO is a joke and they have a track record of treating players poorly by NFL standards. I get why people want to hang onto hope with them. But after this off-season the hope that they ever try and push all in to win is all but gone. They are either inept or don't care about winning as much as the other top teams do.

I'd beg to differ on that statement. They may not want to pay top dollar like a lot of teams, but they have always treated their players well. Remember Devon Still? Heck, remember Tre Hendrickson when he didn't want to work out with the team and instead do his own thing so he could be home to help his wife finish pharmacy school. Not a lot of teams would do that.

[007BengalsFan]

I think Jake and James from Locked on Bengals had a good discussion about Trey's contract:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ijageDegI

[Sled21]

(10 hours ago)Bengalitis Wrote: Trey has been consistent, it's not like it was just a one good season. He should be paid accordingly.

With that said, the FO know the bengals and the fandom is an offense team first and foremost, so they know theyll have tickets sold with Burrow-Teeggins-Chase, they are in no Rush to get that defensive guy Trey's contract reworked.

with a new D coach, they can blame it on that and look forward to the D players starting to gel with coach the following season.

That's their business model.

Sure, he led the league in pressures and sacks. How did he rank against the run? That's why he doesn't get Crosby money

[Sled21]

(9 hours ago)rfaulk34 Wrote: Well, when there are two sides to a situation and you're banging on one side that's not the Bengals...that leads me to believe you support the Bengals. 

That said, i don't want to be presumptuous or ill-informed so i went back and read your posts in this thread to confirm or deny. Starting with post #155. Here are some of the things you said about the Bengals;
"the bengals are honoring the contract"
"they are living up to their end of the deal"

Here are some of the things you've said about Trey;
"trey's angry he didn't get a raise"
"trey is acting very childish" (multiple times)
"quit trashing the Bengals"
"i don't really care if he plays or not, just stop whining"
"depends on how stupid he is"
"he needs to grow up"
"acting like a spoiled child"

Couldn't really find anything negative about the Bengals front office, so...

Results are in.

You support the Bengals front office. 

In this matter, I don't see where the front office is wrong. Sorry if you disagree, I'm just calling them like I see them. They have him under contract and offered him a huge raise. He declined, then ran to the press to whine. If he wasn't playing this out in public, I wouldn't be so hard on him, but he just seems to be handling this like a juvenile. He needs to shut it and let his agent speak for him. I hate to even bring him up, but JJ Watt on his last deal finally went to his agent and said he was signing Pittsburgh's offer while his agent was trying to get more. When is enough enough?

[Sled21]

(8 hours ago)007BengalsFan Wrote: Trey wants a new contract every time other DEs start getting paid more.  The Benglas have twice gave him contracts that put him toward the top of DE pay.  Hendrickson has played 4 seasons for the Bengals and this is the 4th time he has come to the Bengals for a new contract, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025.  At what point do you just play out your contract?  Is Patrick Mahomes trying to redo his contract every year when these other QBs start getting paid more when he is the best in the NFL?  Is Joe Burrow?  Hendrickson isnt even on that level at his position yet every year he tries to redo his contract.

and lets stop this nonsense about Trey only making 16 million this year.  That is a lie. The Bengals already gave him an 8 million signing bonus upfront for this season's extension and the money was spread out which lowered his cap hit this season.  That doesnt mean Trey is making ~ 16 million this year when he has already been paid a huge chunk of money upfront for this season .  Do we need to stop paying guys up front so they cant claim they arent getting paid in later years?  When they have already taken later years money?  If you were the Bengals negotiating a new contract with Trey would you want to give him a big paycheck upfront so in 2 or 3 years he could turn around and complain about his contract?  Yes even 21 million is low considering how the other DE contracts have gone up but we cant have everyone trying to re-negotiate contracts every time some other guy gets more.  Play out your contract and get paid when you are on the open market.

Exactly, thank you. 

[Sled21]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/trey-hendrickson-if-he-doesnt-blink-is-on-track-to-be-haason-reddick-2-0

Quote:When it comes to getting a new deal, Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson has tried everything. After listening to his stunning remarks to reporters on Tuesday, something occurred to me.

If he takes a stand and doesn’t show up for training camp, he’ll end up being Haason Reddick 2.0.

While we strongly believe that players should fight for every dollar they can get (especially when most fans and far too many in the media align with the billionaires in such battles), no player should overestimate his value — or his leverage.

Hendrickson has real value, but he doesn’t have much leverage. It’s one thing for a rookie who was stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it wage-scale deal to take a stand. It’s another for a veteran who signed a contract as a free agent to get to the later years and realize he did a bad deal.

When a player “outperforms” his second contract, that means the player and his agent failed to properly gauge his eventual value. Or to include devices that protect against overperformance, such as significant incentives or escalators tied to, for example, consecutive seasons of 17.5 sacks.

Hendrickson is due to make $16 million this year. The Bengals, we’ve heard, have offered roughly $28 million per year. Whatever the amount (and, as importantly, the structure), he wants more.

He had a chance to get it, when the team gave him permission to seek a trade. That went nowhere, because no one was willing to give him what he wants (especially since they also would have had to give the Bengals something in return).

Now, Hendrickson is stuck. His options are simple, and few. One, take the team’s best offer on a new deal. Two, play for $16 million and become a free agent in 2026 (unless they tag him). Three, hold out and hope the Bengals will cave.

Here’s the problem for Hendrickson. The Bengals will not cave. On matters of this nature, they do not care. Even as they reluctantly spend where they must (in order to keep Joe Burrow from losing his shit and demanding a trade), the Bengals continue to prioritize making money over pursuing championships.

It’s expensive to be good. Super Bowl trips ain’t free. Travel, hotels, events. It cuts into the piggy bank. (The league provides some assistance for the Super Bowl-week costs, but not much.)

And then, if you win, rings need to be purchased — at roughly $30,000 to $50,000 each. (The NFL apparently contributes $5,000 to $7,000 per ring, for up to 150 of them. Which, of course, means that the Bengals would be tempted to budget $7,001 per ring.)

If Hendrickson wants to skip mandatory minicamp and be fined by the team, that’ll be fine with Bengals owner Mike Brown. If Hendrickson wants to give up $50,000 per day to hold out of training camp, Brown will gladly accept the gift.

And if Hendrickson hopes to sacrifice $888,888 per game to stay away into the regular season, plenty of angels will be getting their wings as the Cincinnati cash register rings and rings.

So if Hendrickson refuses to show up, he’ll eventually be this year’s Reddick. The losses will grow by the day, and he’ll eventually show up.

For Reddick, the Jets gave him a face-saving tweaking of the final year of his contract. The Bengals won’t do that.

By complaining about coach Zac Taylor’s text message that missing mandatory minicamp comes with a fine, Hendrickson tipped his hand. He’s already doing the math on what it will cost to stay away.

So, basically, he can huff and puff all he wants, for now. When it’s time to report for work or face significant fines, he knows what the Bengals will do. And Hendrickson doesn’t seem to be willing to pay the price.

That’s one of the benefits of the Bengals’ unique brand of dysfunction. In situations like this, it’s not a bluff. If a player wants to stay home and increase the organization’s profit margin along the way, they’re fine with that.

At some level, they might even prefer it.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(8 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote: https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/trey-hendrickson-if-he-doesnt-blink-is-on-track-to-be-haason-reddick-2-0

Mike Florio

[SunsetBengal]

(10 hours ago)Sled21 Wrote: What makes you think I'm defending the Front Office? If Trey is badly underpaid, that is his fault and the fault of his incompetent agent, not the front office. The front office, like it or not, is a business. They offered him a raise they didn't have to in order to keep him happy. It failed and he came back wanting more. There's nothing in Hendrickson's history that says if they give him what he wants this year, he won't be doing the same thing next year. He wants to be paid like the top DE's, but he's not a top DE. He is an excellent pass rusher who is mediocre against the run. Having players like Burrow, Chase, and Higgins on deals means there is only so much more money to go around. Hendrickson could wait till next year when he's due a new contract, but I suspect he deep down knows his time is coming to an end and his performance will drop off. There's also precedents to be set, give Hendrickson a new contract every time he whines, and you don't think Chase will be doing the same thing when the next batch of receivers sign for more than him? After all, he will want to be paid like a top WR, right? At this point why even have contracts? Just pay these guys on 1-year deals and let them renegotiate every year.

The better question might be; How are you not defending the front office? Last year when his contract was brought up, they assured him that they would rework his deal and pay him accordingly. It's not his fault that the market for DEs jumped so high, especially after they wasted so much time in getting the Chase and Higgins deals done. The Bengals front office continues to cost itself money in getting contracts done by not being proactive and putting pen to paper before the markets rise.

[kevin]

So Hendrickson says he will not play under his current contract. If he sticks to that, there goes my thought that he would play this year, and franchise tag has him in 2026 also for about same money.

Are the Bengals in Rebuild Mode or Trying To Win Now. Signing Burrow, Chase, Higgins means Win Now.

So Win Now means working out a deal to get Hendrickson on the field. It does not mean taking the stand that he can sit out and not get paid, for that is not trying to Win Now.

If Bengals can not work a deal to get Hendrickson on the field this season, then it is best for Bengals to trade him as they did Carson Palmer. They will not get the Carson Palmer draft pick package, but they should get some good future draft picks. Of course that is Rebuild, not Win Now. Unless in the trade the new team now has Hendrickson on their cap space, and future draft picks are not cap money yet to Bengals. That could free up Bengals to bring in a free agent DE now, if there is one worth having.

Bengals TV Show says Bengals have the money to pay Hendrickson. That would be the best in Win Now Mode.

Add in the top pick DE is not signed yet from what I read. Talk that signing him may be hard also.

On other players in past, people on this site always have said do not worry, they have until September to sign them. If Hendrickson doesn't play and then leaves in March with Bengals getting nothing, there is no way that is a win for Bengals. It's only May, so this could get resolved. Much like Carson Palmer, if he will not play, at least trade him for future draft picks.

The Bengals Defense and chances of winning games is going to be better with Hendrickson than without him. To me, that is all that matters, The time to try to Win is Now with Burrow, Chase, Higgins.

Whatever Happens, GO BENGALS and back to Super Bowl only this time Win.

[007BengalsFan]

(8 hours ago)SunsetBengal Wrote: The better question might be; How are you not defending the front office? Last year when his contract was brought up, they assured him that they would rework his deal and pay him accordingly. It's not his fault that the market for DEs jumped so high, especially after they wasted so much time in getting the Chase and Higgins deals done. The Bengals front office continues to cost itself money in getting contracts done by not being proactive and putting pen to paper before the markets rise.

The Bengals did get the contract done early two years ago when they added on the 2025 season that Hendrickson signed to play for including an 8 million dollar signing bonus.  He doesnt like this early deal he signed and he wants more money now.  He didnt like it last year and tried to negiotiate a deal last year too.  Even if the Bengals had signed Hendrickson early this year before these other contracts were done, what do you think the chances are Hendrickson would have been happy with his lower contract?  or that he wouldnt try to get a new contract next year?  The guy has asked for a new contract every single year but one since he has been here.  2021, 2023, 2024, 2025 have all seen Hendrickson's agent come to the Bengals for a contract that increased Hendrickson's pay.