Trey Hendrickson Update

[CJD]

(Yesterday, 12:56 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Garrett is a lot younger so yes he had some injury issues, but so did Munoz in college and it worked out. I think he is more deserving of a bigger guarantee than Trey. On Watt, that one is baffling to me. Watt seems to have some wear and tear issues now, with age I think he is a strong candidate for his perfomance to fall off even more so than Trey.

Garrett, Hendrickson and Watt are all within 15 months of each other in terms of age. Garrett is the youngest with a birthday of December 29, 1995, but Hendrickson is just over a year older than him, born December 5, 1994 and Watt is the senior of the three, but only about 2 months older than Hendrickson, born October 11, 1994.

After those two got their contracts, Hendrickson has every right to get almost as much, if not just as much, money as them considering statistical performance and age. Which is why the Bengals should have extended him last off season when he asked for it.

I personally think Garrett's contract was a bad idea. With a team as far away from contention as the Browns, they could have gotten multiple high picks from trading him and officially starting their rebuild in earnest.

The Bengals are in a different boat. We are a decent defense away from being one of the three best teams in the NFL. Hendrickson is infinitely more valuable to us than Garrett is to the Browns.

It's a shame it all had to happen this way. The Bengals consistently sign players 1 off season later than they should, and it always costs them a ton of money. Imagine the contracts that Higgins would have accepted in the 2023 off season compared to what he signed. Imagine the contract that Chase would have accepted in the 2024 off season compared to what he signed. Now imagine the contract that Hendrickson would have accepted in the 2024 off season had the Bengals just signed him. The highest paid pass rusher 12 months ago was Nick Bosa, making 34 M AAV (5 yr, 170M). The next two below him were Josh Hines-Allen and Brian Burns, each making about 28M AAV. You could make the argument that Hendrickson wouldn't get Bosa money, but you could have probably sold him on a 29M or maybe 30M AAV contract.

Since then, 4 players have signed for 35.5, 35.6, 40 and 41M AAV (Crosby, Hunter, Garrett, Watt).

I don't know what we'll end up giving Hendrickson (who I do believe we'll eventually sign), but I doubt the AAV begins with a 2. I am now worried it will begin with a 4...