Franchise tag

[TKUHL]

You guys are more informed with the rules, but could we have tagged Hendrickson, if so why didn’t we tag him instead of Tee?

[THE PISTONS]

(04-02-2025, 07:24 PM)TKUHL Wrote: You guys are more informed with the rules, but could we have tagged Hendrickson, if so why didn’t we tag him instead of Tee?

Trey is not a free agent. He has a year left on his contract.

[Luvnit2]

(04-02-2025, 07:24 PM)TKUHL Wrote: You guys are more informed with the rules, but could we have tagged Hendrickson, if so why didn’t we tag him instead of Tee?

The tag can be used for free agents. Trey is under contract for 2025. If no deal is reached in 2025 to extend him, they can tag him in 2026 if they choose.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(04-02-2025, 07:29 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The tag can be used for free agents. Trey is under contract for 2025. If n deal is reached in 2025 to extend him, they can tag him in 2026 if they choose.

And 2027.

[007BengalsFan]

(04-02-2025, 08:11 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: And 2027.

and 2028

[THE PISTONS]

It sounds like they're not really talking to him and his agent:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44506933/trey-hendrickson-disappointed-bengals-stance-contract

[TKUHL]

(04-02-2025, 07:29 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Trey is not a free agent. He has a year left on his contract.

That’s right, my bad. Thanks

[Luvnit2]

(04-02-2025, 09:42 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: It sounds like they're not really talking to him and his agent:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44506933/trey-hendrickson-disappointed-bengals-stance-contract

Not talking or did bengals give them an offer and the agent cut off talks? I believe Katie did nake an offer, I beleive they want more so agent cut off the talks, not the FO.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(04-02-2025, 11:05 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Not talking or did bengals give them an offer and the agent cut off talks? I believe Katie did nake an offer, I beleive they want more so agent cut off the talks, not the FO.

If their offer was a 1 year extension loaded with not just incentives but non-personal incentives, that's not a real offer.

Quote:I don't think I want to play for incentives that will be out of my control. I don't think I want to play on a short-term contract and see where it goes.

That's more an offer in-line with the Bengals offer to Tee never even reaching the $20m/yr range in the 2022-2023 offseason... a non-offer. If you have a For Sale sign in your front yard and I knock and offer you $1,000 cash in exchange for your house, and if you slam the door in my face, I can't realistically go "well I made you an offer, YOU cut off the talks, not me!" when you keep looking for someone to buy your house.

This is peak Katie/Troy... like when they offered Whit a 1/yr deal worth "up to" $11m or whatever after incentives and then claimed they offered him a competitive deal and HE chose to leave the Bengals despite in reality offering nowhere near as much money as any of the 5 teams that offered a deal to him.

[Sled21]

(04-02-2025, 09:42 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: It sounds like they're not really talking to him and his agent:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44506933/trey-hendrickson-disappointed-bengals-stance-contract

Seems to me this is the issue.....

Quote:"We're on the D-end National Football League Street.

Trey thinks he's on the street. He's not, he's still under contract, just like he was under contract last year when he asked for a new contract. And he can be tagged for two years after that.  I understand he's vastly underpaid for his production, but as Trump would say, "You have no cards." He's too old to sit out a year. Trey, at this point, if he really wants to sign an extension and stay a Bengal for life (and I hope he does) really needs an agent who knows what he's doing and not the clown he has. 

[THE PISTONS]

(Yesterday, 08:21 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Seems to me this is the issue.....


Trey thinks he's on the street. He's not, he's still under contract, just like he was under contract last year when he asked for a new contract. And he can be tagged for two years after that.  I understand he's vastly underpaid for his production, but as Trump would say, "You have no cards." He's too old to sit out a year. Trey, at this point, if he really wants to sign an extension and stay a Bengal for life (and I hope he does) really needs an agent who knows what he's doing and not the clown he has. 

His cards are to sit out until he has to report to get credited for a season. Report and 'embellish' and injury. Become a distraction.

Not saying these are great options, but he can hurt the team.

[Daddy-O]

(Yesterday, 08:51 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: His cards are to sit out until he has to report to get credited for a season. Report and 'embellish' and injury. Become a distraction.

Not saying these are great options, but he can hurt the team.

Yeah he could do that but I just don't see Trey doing so because like you said it can hurt the team.

Love Trey but he signed the extension. The Bengals really don't need to offer him any additional $$.  Sorry to say it but if another team does not deem him worthy of a 1st round pick then they don't deem him worthy of 30M a year.  Age comes into play with that but that's the bottom line.  At some point the player needs to look in the mirror and say this team has been more than accommodating to me and honor the previous agreement.  If he felt differently he shouldn't have agreed to the previous extension.

Business is business.

[CJD]

Trey's options, at this point:

1. Sign a team friendly contract that will probably give him ~28 to 30 million per year of new money in either a 2 or 3 year extension, with only the 1st year of that extension, and maybe a few more million in the later years, guaranteed.

2. Play on his current contract and hit free agency next year, in which case the Bengals will franchise tag him and then repeat the process.

3. Retire.

He isn't going to be traded unless someone blows the Bengals doors off with an offer. He isn't going to get a 36M AAV contract for 4 years or anything like that. He is currently under contract for 15.8M this year. The 2026 franchise tag for defensive ends is projected to be approximately 26.5M. The 2027 franchise tag would then likely be 120% of that number, or 31.8M.

So the Bengals have his age 30, age 31 and age 32 seasons under complete control, with nothing he can do about it other than talk to the media or retire, at a rate of 3 years, 74.1M, with no guarantees beyond each off season (if his play declines, they can just not tag him and owe him nothing because he's a "free agent" after each season).

So why on Earth would the Bengals go beyond that number?

There is value to a player being happy in his situation, but this agent has screwed up so many times, I feel like all that good will is gone. In the last 3 off seasons, Trey signed an extension at his agent's behest, requested a trade and threatened retirement, and then requested a trade and threatened retirement again. 

Only an insane person requests a new contract 1 season after they just got a new contract. What guarantee would the Bengals have, even if they extended him this off season, that he wouldn't demand a new contract next off season?

Trey has turned this relationship into a transaction by following his garbage agent's advice to go to the media every off season and now he's paying the consequences.

[Sled21]

(Yesterday, 08:51 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: His cards are to sit out until he has to report to get credited for a season. Report and 'embellish' and injury. Become a distraction.

Not saying these are great options, but he can hurt the team.

At which point his value to other teams goes off a cliff. He would then next year be a 31-year-old disgruntled DE who is at the age in his career where DE's start dropping off, and that's even if the Bengals did not tag him. They can screw him much harder than he can screw them. I don't think Trey is the kind of guy to do this, but he really needs to get rid of that amateur agent who does not even know when he is and isn't eligible for contract extensions. I'm sure Katie is tired of dealing with someone who doesn't know what they are doing, hence the comment about it all being in Trey's court. The best thing he could do is ditch his agent and hire Rocky, who just finished Chase and Higgins on a good note with the front office and has some good will working for him. 

[THE PISTONS]

(Yesterday, 08:59 AM)Daddy-O Wrote: Yeah he could do that but I just don't see Trey doing so because like you said it can hurt the team.

Love Trey but he signed the extension. The Bengals really don't need to offer him any additional $$.  Sorry to say it but if another team does not deem him worthy of a 1st round pick then they don't deem him worthy of 30M a year.  Age comes into play with that but that's the bottom line.  At some point the player needs to look in the mirror and say this team has been more than accommodating to me and honor the previous agreement.  If he felt differently he shouldn't have agreed to the previous extension.

Business is business.

His real leverage is he's our only dominant pass rusher and he's probably the best one in the league. If not best, top 5. And we have no one behind him.

Say he sits out all camp and doesn't reports at the last day he can to accrue a full year.

That said, I have no doubt the Bengals would franchise tag him next year.

So, there's ways you can do negotiations. You can use a hammer and force. Or you can use diplomacy and try to keep people happy. This seems to be going the force route.

[THE PISTONS]

(Yesterday, 10:31 AM)Sled21 Wrote: At which point his value to other teams goes off a cliff. He would then next year be a 31-year-old disgruntled DE who is at the age in his career where DE's start dropping off, and that's even if the Bengals did not tag him. They can screw him much harder than he can screw them. I don't think Trey is the kind of guy to do this, but he really needs to get rid of that amateur agent who does not even know when he is and isn't eligible for contract extensions. I'm sure Katie is tired of dealing with someone who doesn't know what they are doing, hence the comment about it all being in Trey's court. The best thing he could do is ditch his agent and hire Rocky, who just finished Chase and Higgins on a good note with the front office and has some good will working for him. 

I think there are teams that will pay him $30 million even if he doesn't play this year. What really makes his value go down is the Bengals can just keep franchise tagging him. So he can sit out half a year, but it doesn't get him to free agency.

Of course, IF he gets tagged and sits out he loses that money, and it also eats up salary cap space as the Bengals have to keep that space there in case he reports.

[*ochocincos*]

(04-02-2025, 07:24 PM)TKUHL Wrote: You guys are more informed with the rules, but could we have tagged Hendrickson, if so why didn’t we tag him instead of Tee?

While it was already brought up why Hendrickson wasn't tagged this year, he can DEFINITELY be tagged next year (and the year after).

Realistically, Hendrickson could be a Bengal the rest of his career just by using the tag. And it becomes fully guaranteed at signing of each tag, reducing how much has to be given up front.

I wonder if Bengals have proposed the idea to Hendrickson of just tagging him the next 2 years?
There really isn't anyone else on the team currently that the tag needs to be used toward since Burrow, Higgins, and Chase are signed for the next few years.

[*ochocincos*]

(Yesterday, 12:19 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I think there are teams that will pay him $30 million even if he doesn't play this year. What really makes his value go down is the Bengals can just keep franchise tagging him. So he can sit out half a year, but it doesn't get him to free agency.

Of course, IF he gets tagged and sits out he loses that money, and it also eats up salary cap space as the Bengals have to keep that space there in case he reports.

If he sits out the year, doesn't technically his contract roll into the next year?
I thought it did.
Or do you mean half year is the cutoff to still count to accrue the year?

[THE PISTONS]

(Yesterday, 01:16 PM)ochocincos Wrote: If he sits out the year, doesn't technically his contract roll into the next year?
I thought it did.
Or do you mean half year is the cutoff to still count to accrue the year?

If you sit out the whole year. Most players sit out like 9 games or whatever the max you can miss and get credited for a year is and report then.

[*ochocincos*]

(Yesterday, 01:58 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: If you sit out the whole year. Most players sit out like 9 games or whatever the max you can miss and get credited for a year is and report then.

Fair, but isn't the tag amount divided by 17 games and thus every game they sit out, they lose out on a portion of that money?
So like if a tag is $30 mill and they only played in 8 games, they would only end up getting $14.12 mill?

Maybe I'm different because I'm not obviously in the NFL, but I would think most players would see the tag as about as good as they'd get on a year-to-year basis and just play most or all of the year to get that full amount, then roll into FA (or next tag)?

I feel like if you lose about half the amount of the tag, the likelihood of that next contract may not quite make up for the 9 games or so you sat out while playing on the tag.