Trey Hendrickson needs to learn a harsh truth about the Cincinnati Bengals if he doesn’t know it already
Hendrickson can’t keep expecting a different outcome with the Bengals.
Trey Hendrickson can finally put all of his focus on the 2025 season after signing a revised contract that will pay him $30 million this year.
That’s great for both him and the team when looking at the next six months. What happens beyond that, however, can’t be dismissed.
Should Hendrickson, coming off an All-Pro season in which he led the NFL in sacks with 17.5, have another great year in Bengal stripes, the idea of yet another contract between him and the club is now a possibility. He made it so by backing down from his fight to earn future guarantees and accept a simple pay raise instead, realizing it may be the only way for him to eventually get the deal he really wants.
What he also needs to realize is that contract of his dreams will simply never be given to him here.
Trey Hendrickson needs to stop believing the Bengals
For the last three years, Hendrickson has been pushing Cincinnati for a contract that reflects his status as a top-tier pass-rusher. Total value is nice, but guaranteed dollars is the language of modern contract negotiating. For the last three years, the Bengals have told their best free-agent signing in history that they’ll get it to him in time.
And based on what Hendrickson said after signing his revised deal, it sounds like they told him again.
“We’re taking one day at a time,” Hendrickson told Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson Monday. “Moving forward, we’ll figure that out as it goes. For this season, to be given a raise I didn’t necessarily had to have been given, it’s a blessing to be in a position where I’ve been brought up to my peers. And also being able to get after quarterbacks. I love this city and with what’s been happening the last couple of months, I’ve had time to reflect on what it means to me and how much I want to stay a Bengal for the 2025 season.”
Oh my.
This is a message only for Trey Hendrickson. If you’re not Trey Hendrickson, feel free to click out of the article. Thanks for your read time.
They will not give you what you want. Not now. Not next March. Not ever.
Look at this with the most logical, pragmatic set of eyes. Hendrickson is 30 years old and may never have as good of a season as he just had. Even if he replicates it over the next five months and helps get Cincinnati back into the postseason, you know what the decision-makers in the front office will view him as?
The same player, but a year older.
If the Bengals weren’t going to give Hendrickson a grownup contract with guarantees beyond the first year now, which was the main thing he wanted since starting kickstarting this saga back in the winter, then there’s zero reason to believe they’d give in when he’s even deeper into his career and 30s. This was his chance after being in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation with a fourth Pro Bowl nod to go with his first All-Pro honor.
For his sake, I hope he’s saving face. I hope he understands that if he wants to finally sign a contract that truly reflects his value like every single one of his peers has, he’ll have to sign with another team.
Because if he continues to buy what the Bengals are selling, then the Bengals will continue to string him along.
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