The Cincinnati Bengals and star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson are locked in a brutal contract standoff, and Tuesday Hendrickson took a stand by drawing a line in the sand.
On the first day of Bengals OTAs that have been open to the media, Hendrickson told reporters that he will not play under his current contract, which has one year and $16 million remaining.
Hendrickson’s stance on the upcoming season, comes one day after revealing that his agent and his camp haven’t heard from the Bengals and that negotiations appear to have been cut off.
“No communication has taken place between my camp and the organization post draft,” Hendrickson said in a statement released to ESPN. “The offers prior to the draft did not reflect the vision we shared and were promised last offseason if I continued to play at a high level. Coaches are aware of these past conversations. Rather than using collaboration to get us to a point to bring me home to the team, THEY are no longer communicating.
“I have been eagerly awaiting a resolution of this situation, but that’s hard to do when there is no discussion and an evident lack of interest in reaching mutual goals.”
Coming off back-to-back 17.5 sack campaigns, Hendrickson is arguably the Bengals’ most prolific defensive player and dominant edge rusher, and yet, Cincinnati seems to have little interest in extending his contract or ensuring that he’s on the field come September.
What is perhaps most perplexing is that even with Joe Burrow signed to a top of the market extension, and both of the Bengals’ star receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins secured on record-setting four-year deals, Cincinnati still has upwards of $27.7 million in cap space this season, the ninth-most spending flexibility in the league next offseason, at $68.8 million, and a projected $214.3 million in cap space in 2027, which should be plenty of cap space to accommodate a new deal for Hendrickson.
But, it sure sounds like unless the Bengals show some good faith in negotiations, Hendrickson won’t be suiting up for Cincinnati again, anytime soon.
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