The T.J. Watt and Trey Hendrickson holdouts could wind up hurting the Lions unless they make a move quickly
It's mandatory minicamp week in the NFL. While the Detroit Lions have opted to skip their minicamp so they can start training camp early, there are still some things happening this week that could affect the Lions. Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt and Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson are not attending their team's […]
It's mandatory minicamp week in the NFL. While the Detroit Lions have opted to skip their minicamp so they can start training camp early, there are still some things happening this week that could affect the Lions.
Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt and Cincinnati Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson are not attending their team's mandatory minicamp because both are reportedly seeking new contracts.
The Hendrickson has once been well documented all offseason long. He and the Bengals have been in a standoff over a new deal since before the draft, and that one doesn't look like it's going to get solved anytime soon.
The one to really worry about is Watt. He's been one of the best players in the NFL for years now and has six All-Pro seasons and a Defensive Player of the Year award to prove it. If he's looking for a new deal, it's likely to be a big one.
Right now, he's the seventh highest paid edge rusher, and he'd probably like to get to the top of the list and be in that Myles Garrett range with $40 plus million a year.
How does that affect the Lions? Well, it keeps raising the market for Aidan Hutchinson, who is expected to get an extension at some point this offseason.
The expectations from fans might be that either he takes a hometown discount or that the Lions should get a discount since he broke his leg last year. That's probably not the way the cookie is going to crumble. The hometown discount mostly doesn't really exist, and the Lions have a history of making sure their guys get paid well and taken care of with their deals.
On top of that, everyone is watching closely for what happens in Dallas, where the Cowboys are expected to make Micah Parsons the highest-paid edge rusher in NFL history.
All of this puts the Lions on something of a race against time because while they have taken care of thier players, they've also been really good with getting their deals done faster and then seeing those deals look like discounts after other players, who based their deals on the Lions moves, get bigger pay days.
If Hutchinson is going to get something like a $170 million deal, the Lions might want to jump on that now before Parsons, Watt, and maybe even Hendrickson completely shift the market.
We do know that the Hutchinson's agent, Mike McCartney, has a history of getting deals done during the summertime, so it could be sometime in June, July, or August. The earlier the better.
‘We both know where I want to be’ Za’Darius Smith says he wants to be back with the Lions
Right after the Detroit Lions wrapped up the 2024 season, it became apparent that Za'Darius Smith's contract might be one the Lions wanted to get out of. The big thing that hurt was the void year he had in 2026, which took his deal from just over $5 million to $11 million. Lions GM Brad […]
