The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t spare any expense to keep wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the roster.
Chase signed a four-year deal worth $161 million, which made him the highest-paid wide receiver by more than $5 million of what Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson makes. Higgins signed a four-year deal worth $115 million.
While those paydays made quarterback Joe Burrow happy on offense, it makes keeping the Bengals defense competitive much harder. Burrow complained last season that he felt the offense had to score on every drive to win games.
Cincinnati had troubles on defense, even with defensive end Trey Hendrickson recording 17.5 sacks in 2024. (Hendrickson recorded 17.5 sacks in 2023, too.) Henrickson has been granted permission to seek a trade while he negotiates for a contract extension, believing 35 sacks in two seasons entitles him to a better deal than the $21 million per year he makes now.
Cincinnati Bengals blame Trey Hendrickson
Per Kelsey Conway of Cincinnati.com, Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn suggested Henrickson was a little greedy and needed to be “happy at some point.”
“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Blackburn said at the annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. “I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he’s not, you know, that’s what holds it up sometimes.
“So, you know, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him. He’s been a great player. We’re happy to have him. And so maybe we’ll find a way to get something to work. We’re just gonna see where it goes.”
Why the Bengals are open to a trade
Blackburn isn’t sure if the Bengals will be able to keep Henrickson or not. The Bengals chose to let Herickson test the trade market because of how strongly he feels about getting paid.
“As you’re trying (to put) all these pieces together, you have certain limitations eventually,” Blackburn said. “So he seemed to feel strongly about it, and thought the strength of interest out there was going to be at a certain level. And so, we said that it would be okay to at least explore and so we don’t do that all the time, but in this case, we felt like it was the right thing to do, case by case basis every time.”
Per Mike Dardis of WLWT, the Bengals offered Hendrickson a deal worth approximately $30-32 million per year.
Not good for the Trey Hendrickson/Bengals future. I think the Bengals were prepared to pay 30-32 million per year, he's not worth 34 or 35. He's more one dimensional than Crosby, Garrett and Watt. I see the Bengals trading Trey for draft capital and signing Ja'Marr and Tee @wlwt https://t.co/aATG0AlEG4
— MikeDardisWLWT (@MikeDardisWLWT) March 5, 2025
The Las Vegas Raiders gave Maxx Crosby a new deal worth $35.5 million per year. Myles Garrett is the league’s top-paid pass rusher after the Cleveland Browns agreed to an extension this offseason worth $40 million per year.
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