Trey Hendrickson just received a ton of new leverage in negotiating a new contract with the Bengals before free agency even begins
Trey Hendrickson is looking to get paid by the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason, or else he'll want off the team for a second consecutive year. His plight to get a new deal just got a lot more interesting. The Las Vegas Raiders went ahead and reset the defensive end market Wednesday by extending Maxx Crosby […]
Trey Hendrickson is looking to get paid by the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason, or else he'll want off the team for a second consecutive year. His plight to get a new deal just got a lot more interesting.
The Las Vegas Raiders went ahead and reset the defensive end market Wednesday by extending Maxx Crosby for three years and $106.5 million in new money, with $91.5 million guaranteed according to multiple reports.
Not only is this the largest new average annual value for a defensive end, it's the largest for a non-quarterback in NFL history, beating out Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson's $35 million AAV he signed on for last year.
Hendrickson has undoubtedly taken notice of this development.
It's become clear at this point that in order for the Bengals to appease their Defensive Player of the Year finalist heading into his 31-year old season, they have to offer him north of $30 million per year in new money. The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov recently reported Hendrickson's asking price is actually slightly under what Crosby ended up securing after the report.
"If they want to keep all three players, they got to get to $40 million per year for Ja'Marr, $30 million per year for Tee [Higgins] and then about $32-33 [million] per year for Trey Hendrickson," Meirov said. "And they're nowhere close on all three right now."
Again, this report came out prior to Crosby's extension reaching the public. Does Hendrickson move his price up because of what happened in Vegas? Or does what happen in Vegas stay in Vegas?
For the Bengals, Crosby's new deal may not impact how they view Hendrickson since Hendrickson is nearly three full years older in comparison. They've managed to sign him to two separate deals since the 2021 offseason with their preferred structure. They can still use that as leverage to avoid dishing out the levels of guaranteed money Crosby's camp confirmed for them.
On the other hand, Hendrickson is coming off a much better season than Crosby and his asking price is certainly not dropping if anything. This is yet another data point that favors him.
Crosby is just the first domino to fall in this market. Micah Parson, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Aidan Hutchinson could all get new deals sometime this year as they, like Hendrickson, are still under control of their current teams for the entirety of 2025. If more deals follow Crosby before anything happens with Hendrickson, that's just more leverage for him.
Waiting to reach an agreement has never done the Bengals any favors with their own money. That's not changing as their focus to reward Hendrickson continues with even more pressure.