It shouldn’t come as a shock, but the Cincinnati Bengals have ruled out All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson for the fifth straight week.
In what is a must win game against the Buffalo Bills this Sunday, Cincinnati would have liked for Hendrickson to be back in action, but his hip injury hasn’t progressed to the point where he’s ready to return.
Hendrickson injured his hip back in week six against the Green Bay Packers and then re-aggravated it against the New York Jets two weeks later. This will be the fifth straight game he’s missed.
Not only will Hendrickson miss the game at Orchard Park this weekend, he didn’t practice at all this week. He hasn’t practiced since the injury flare back in week eight.
Hendrickson’s Injury Recovery Taking Longer Than Expected
Considering the Bengals haven’t put Hendrickson on injured reserve, they were certainly hoping to have him back in the lineup sooner than later, as the IR designation requires a minimum of four weeks on the sideline.
I would be remiss not to mention the fact that Hendrickson and Cincinnati had a dispute over his contract during the offseason. Hendrickson was looking for a long-term extension, one that Cincinnati seemingly wasn’t willing to give him. Because of this, Hendrickson was heavily involved in trade rumors around the trade deadline back in early November.
He will become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason, so the Bengals were looking for potential suitors to take him for value in return, as opposed to the large sum of nothing they’ll get this offseason if they don’t re-sign him.
I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but it is definitely a possibility that Hendrickson is using this injury as an excuse to maintain his health heading into an offseason where he’ll be looking for a long-term contract with a high AAV. He may be holding out in order to ensure that his value stays as high as it possibly can, not wanting to sustain any further injury that teams could use against him in negotiations.
If this is what Hendrickson is doing, it’s likely he’s not telling the team about it. If he did, it would be a certainty that the Bengals would put him on IR to free up a roster spot.
Bengals Fighting For Playoff Lives This Weekend
Every game from here on out is a must-win for Cincinnati, who improved to 4-8 with a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving. In most other seasons, a team sitting at 4-8 would be dead in the water, but luckily for the Bengals, their AFC North counterparts haven’t played very good football this season.
Both Pittsburgh and Baltimore are sitting at 6-6, and are facing each other this weekend. With a win at Buffalo, Cincinnati will pull to within one game behind the loser of that game with another showdown against the Ravens coming in week 15.
It won’t come easily though. Cincinnati is heading up to western New York to take on a hot Bills team in cold, cold weather. Orchard Park is a notoriously difficult place for opposing teams to go in and get a win and Buffalo won’t roll over as it is battling for playoff positioning as well.
Kickoff in Buffalo is set for 1 p.m.
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