Trey Hendrickson Update

[Nepa]

(Yesterday, 05:33 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I guess there were other things Fred brought to the table, good point. Still, I couldn't stand how someone would make a thread and  
Fred would get in it and just high jack it into another one of his arguments showing he was all stats and not a fan of actually watching 
the damn game.

My favorite memory of Fred was when he made a statement so obviously wrong that he was called on it and then, rather than concede the argument, decided to redefine one of the terms in his statement to a meaning that no one would ever use -- indeed, was opposite of what the term actually meant. Fred never lost an argument that I remember. He just created new definitions for terms. His saving grace is that he kept the conversations going in the off-season. Never a dull moment with Fred. Ditto for Joe from Florence.

Edit: That was really off-tangent. But when a thread reaches 75 pages and still the issue remains the same as in the first page, then I guess we should have liberty to open up the conversation.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 05:52 PM)Nepa Wrote: My favorite memory of Fred was when he made a statement so obviously wrong that he was called on it and then, rather than concede the argument, decided to redefine one of the terms in his statement to a meaning that no one would ever use -- indeed, was opposite of what the term actually meant. Fred never lost an argument that I remember. He just created new definitions for terms. His saving grace is that he kept the conversations going in the off-season. Never a dull moment with Fred. Ditto for Joe from Florence.

Edit: That was really off-tangent. But when a thread reaches 75 pages and still the issue remains the same as in the first page, then I guess we should have liberty to open up the conversation.

[*bfine32*]

I do applaud Trey for sticking to his principles. He has done the mature thing and separated himself from the team. He didn't show up and be a distraction just to not lose money. At this point, I'm pulling for Trey.

Hell, he's already in Jacksonville. Tell them to send us Josh Allen-Hines, a 2026 3rd Round pick, and they can keep him.

[*ochocincos*]

(Yesterday, 09:52 AM)Nepa Wrote: Yeah, guess not. Trey apparently is in Florida, not even near training camp. 

Darn. Thought they were close, also.

Really?
Y'all thought just because of reports of resuming conversations that they were gonna be close?
It's not surprising the Bengals FO essentially said something along the lines of "how bout another...couple mill? That will be plenty to get it over the line, huh?!"

(I realize the above isn't reported to have happened, just that it was a pretty lowball offer yet again)

I do find it interesting how the Brown family is willing to make Chase the highest paid non-QB offensive player in the league and Higgins (vastly) overpaid to be a WR2 (8th largest WR total contract, 10th highest WR AAV, but only around 30th in overall production), but reportedly aren't even coming close to the likes of Hunter, Garrett, and Watt to make Hendrickson among the highest paid pass rushers.

Hendrickson is (going to be) harder to replace on this team than Higgins from a production standpoint.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 06:11 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Hell, he's already in Jacksonville. Tell them to send us Josh Allen-Hines, a 2026 3rd Round pick, and they can keep him.

Jacksonville doesn't have enough cap space to make that trade even if they wanted to. 

He has a $15.4m cap hit this year. If they traded him, because of his signing bonus, they'd instead take a $30.6m dead cap hit (would be $32.6 but they save $2m in base salary). Meaning they'd take up $15.2m more in cap space than they're currently using. 

They're listed as having $18.8-19.3m in cap space depending on which site.

That'd leave them with $3.6-4.1m in cap space to take on Trey Hendrickson's $15.8m base salary plus whatever extension he gets.


- - - - -
(It might be more than $30.6m, I am honestly not entirely sure what happens with void years when traded, Hines-Allen has another $12m in void year cap hits.)

[*pally*]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6508501/2025/07/22/trey-hendrickson-not-reporting-bengals-training-camp/

“I verbalized to the Bengals that I wanted to be a captain, to lead a young defense. And once rookie Shemar Stewart gets back at camp, I want to pass along the knowledge that I have, just like Cam Jordan once did for me. As I see it, Shemar and I are not competitors, we’re teammates. I’m excited to go to work with him when the time comes.”

Asked about Brown’s comments, Hendrickson told The Athletic: “As a man, he’s amazing. I don’t think anyone in Cincinnati has a bigger heart, I understand this is part of the business… I don’t want to repeat my actions at (mandatory) minicamp. I have a great relationship with Zac (Taylor) and I want to keep it that way. The Bengals want me to be in Cincinnati and I want to be in Cincinnati.”

[Luvnit2]

(Yesterday, 06:17 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Really?
Y'all thought just because of reports of resuming conversations that they were gonna be close?
It's not surprising the Bengals FO essentially said something along the lines of "how bout another...couple mill? That will be plenty to get it over the line, huh?!"

(I realize the above isn't reported to have happened, just that it was a pretty lowball offer yet again)

I do find it interesting how the Brown family is willing to make Chase the highest paid non-QB offensive player in the league and Higgins (vastly) overpaid to be a WR2 (8th largest WR total contract, 10th highest WR AAV, but only around 30th in overall production), but reportedly aren't even coming close to the likes of Hunter, Garrett, and Watt to make Hendrickson among the highest paid pass rushers.

Hendrickson is (going to be) harder to replace on this team than Higgins from a production standpoint.

Higgins contract is laced with incentives, and he is 5 years younger than Trey. Tee is a great team friendly deal with outs. Trey wants us to tear up a deal paying 16 million of which not 1 dollar is guaranteed and pay him 100 million with 80 million guaranteed. Sorry, but if bengals 

The FO could say see you in Cincy after you pay your fnes Trey and FYI Trey will will franchise you in 2026 and maybe 2027. That would be a hard line stance and they have not done that yet.

[Luvnit2]

(Yesterday, 06:38 PM)pally Wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6508501/2025/07/22/trey-hendrickson-not-reporting-bengals-training-camp/

“I verbalized to the Bengals that I wanted to be a captain, to lead a young defense. And once rookie Shemar Stewart gets back at camp, I want to pass along the knowledge that I have, just like Cam Jordan once did for me. As I see it, Shemar and I are not competitors, we’re teammates. I’m excited to go to work with him when the time comes.”

Asked about Brown’s comments, Hendrickson told The Athletic: “As a man, he’s amazing. I don’t think anyone in Cincinnati has a bigger heart, I understand this is part of the business… I don’t want to repeat my actions at (mandatory) minicamp. I have a great relationship with Zac (Taylor) and I want to keep it that way. The Bengals want me to be in Cincinnati and I want to be in Cincinnati.”

This is positive in my opinion, seems like he respects MB and vice versa.

[Nepa]

(Yesterday, 06:38 PM)pally Wrote: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6508501/2025/07/22/trey-hendrickson-not-reporting-bengals-training-camp/

“I verbalized to the Bengals that I wanted to be a captain, to lead a young defense. And once rookie Shemar Stewart gets back at camp, I want to pass along the knowledge that I have, just like Cam Jordan once did for me. As I see it, Shemar and I are not competitors, we’re teammates. I’m excited to go to work with him when the time comes.”

Asked about Brown’s comments, Hendrickson told The Athletic: “As a man, he’s amazing. I don’t think anyone in Cincinnati has a bigger heart, I understand this is part of the business… I don’t want to repeat my actions at (mandatory) minicamp. I have a great relationship with Zac (Taylor) and I want to keep it that way. The Bengals want me to be in Cincinnati and I want to be in Cincinnati.”

Thank you for posting that. I think we all like Trey. He has a lot of heart and gives it his all on the field. I think we all can remember when he was totally gassed from his effort, but just kept going. I really wish they would get this done. And make him a captain.

[Destro]

(Yesterday, 03:38 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: When Watt signed that contract, it made getting a contract done with Trey that much harder.

I hate the Stealers

[SunsetBengal]

(Yesterday, 04:57 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Just to point out in the Super Bowl we lost, and the one we just missed, Trey was on the team.

That's right, he was, as a major force and team leader.

[Nicomo Cosca]

You can definitely make a case that not offering Trey Hendrickson significant multi-year guarantees is justifiable. He’s a very good player, but he’s not a perfect defensive end.

The thing is, though, if you’ve decided that you view Hendrickson that way and won’t budge on…

— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) July 22, 2025

Charlie pretty much nails it here. The Bengals want to have their cake and eat it too.

[jj22]

I don’t know why they’d be so hung up on the guarantees. Trey knock on wood could miss the season if signed and still be back for 2027.

I can’t imagine them cutting him after a year. They’ve always been slow to pull the trigger on an aging core piece. His agent should know that. Unless agents don’t trust that anymore.

Bengals have gotten better letting go in recent years. Or at least forcing restructures. Maybe that spin of reputation to see out contracts as reasons to sign for only a year guaranteed is over. If it was ever really a thing. .

[Soonerpeace]

(Yesterday, 06:49 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: This is positive in my opinion, seems like he respects MB and vice versa.

Trey was disappointed in himself over his comments about Zac at mini camp. Maybe he thought Zac would be more understanding because of their strong bond. But Zac wasn’t. Zac was pissed Trey showed up at mini camp and talked about his contract to the media. It was a distraction and he called him out. That’s why Trey said I’m not going to repeat that.

[SunsetBengal]

(Yesterday, 08:20 PM)jj22 Wrote: I don’t know why they’d be so hung up on the guarantees. Trey knock on wood could miss the season if signed  and still be back for 2027.

I can’t imagine them cutting him after a year. They’ve always been slow to pull the trigger on an aging core piece. His agent should know that. Unless agents don’t trust that anymore.

Bengals have gotten better letting go in recent years. Or at least forcing restructures. Maybe that spin of reputation to see out contracts as reasons to sign for only a year guaranteed is over. If it was ever really a thing. .

The entire landscape of the NFL and contracts has changed very rapidly since Cleveland messed around and gave Watson that fully guaranteed deal. The rookie slotting system was put in place specifically to avoid holdouts and teams having to suffer huge financial losses for paying massive money to guys that sometimes turned out to be "busts". Leave it to the agent community to attempt to find ways to circumvent what the CBA established. If a player is unavailable to the team through his own off the field actions, the team should not be on the hook for that money. Does anyone think that their boss will give them a fully guaranteed, multi year contract with no strings attached? I know that my employers wouldn't pay me for not being able to work, aside from my accrued time off.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(Yesterday, 08:20 PM)jj22 Wrote: I don’t know why they’d be so hung up on the guarantees.

It's the only part of the contract that's real.

Not counting players drafted and cut during their rookie contracts, the Bengals in the Zac Taylor era have signed 5 different guys to 3 year deals and then cut them after 1 year.

Every time I say "why don't you sign-the-deal-play-the-deal folks ever complain when the team cuts them while they're still under contract?" the reply is almost always "because the contract didn't say they couldn't."

If you don't have guaranteed money, you are purely at the whim of someone who wants nothing more than to not pay you or to pay someone else less to do your job.

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 06:17 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Really?
Y'all thought just because of reports of resuming conversations that they were gonna be close?
It's not surprising the Bengals FO essentially said something along the lines of "how bout another...couple mill? That will be plenty to get it over the line, huh?!"

(I realize the above isn't reported to have happened, just that it was a pretty lowball offer yet again)

I do find it interesting how the Brown family is willing to make Chase the highest paid non-QB offensive player in the league and Higgins (vastly) overpaid to be a WR2 (8th largest WR total contract, 10th highest WR AAV, but only around 30th in overall production), but reportedly aren't even coming close to the likes of Hunter, Garrett, and Watt to make Hendrickson among the highest paid pass rushers.

Hendrickson is (going to be) harder to replace on this team than Higgins from a production standpoint.

Chase- 25 years old
Higgins- 26 years old
Hendrickson- 30 years old, and at a position where at that age production usually drops

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 06:47 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Higgins contract is laced with incentives, and he is 5 years younger than Trey. Tee is a great team friendly deal with outs. Trey wants us to tear up a deal paying 16 million of which not 1 dollar is guaranteed and pay him 100 million with 80 million guaranteed. Sorry, but if bengals 

The FO could say see you in Cincy after you pay your fnes Trey and FYI Trey will will franchise you in 2026 and maybe 2027. That would be a hard line stance and they have not done that yet.

Which was actually 28 million offered.

[Essex Johnson]

(Yesterday, 06:17 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Really?
Y'all thought just because of reports of resuming conversations that they were gonna be close?
It's not surprising the Bengals FO essentially said something along the lines of "how bout another...couple mill? That will be plenty to get it over the line, huh?!"

(I realize the above isn't reported to have happened, just that it was a pretty lowball offer yet again)

I do find it interesting how the Brown family is willing to make Chase the highest paid non-QB offensive player in the league and Higgins (vastly) overpaid to be a WR2 (8th largest WR total contract, 10th highest WR AAV, but only around 30th in overall production), but reportedly aren't even coming close to the likes of Hunter, Garrett, and Watt to make Hendrickson among the highest paid pass rushers.

Hendrickson is (going to be) harder to replace on this team than Higgins from a production standpoint.

Remember the massive debate on who to sign Tre or Tee? I think it is playing out like many thought from an affordability factor it would be hard to sign both with Chases massive contract. I preferred Tre signing over Tee  but in the end I believe Burrow pressure to sign Tee was the difference made for FO to allocate massive amount of capital to the offense.

[WeezyBengal]

Trey post any pics of where he's at today? Maybe Bermuda? Jamaica? Oh I want to take ya.