Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone says he initially took it personally when the team approached him about taking a pay cut. He considered simply saying, ‘no.”
But, he ultimately wanted to do what was best for the team and ended up with $1.5 million guaranteed for the 2025 season. He thinks the restructuring (pay cut) has to do with the Bengals getting Trey Hendrickson more money.
“This is a business and they’re trying to do what’s best for the team, and I understand that,” Stone said after Tuesday’s OTA practice.
“I want to do what’s best for the team, too,” he added. “If that’s able to get Trey back or get him signed, I’m gonna do it.”
Hendrickson is under contract for $15.8 million for this year and has said previously that he has no plans to play under his contract.
Stone isn’t exactly sure his contract has anything to do with Hendrickson
Hendrickson obviously wants a raise or to be traded. So far, a trade obviously hasn’t happened. It also wouldn’t seem that restructuring Stone’s deal would have much impact on the Hendrickson situation.
“If you’re taking a pay cut, they’re trying to fill spaces for a reason,” Stone said. “I don’t know what they’re doing. They didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask.”
Stone said that at some point this offseason, he wasn’t sure the Bengals would keep him at all after what he considered to be a sub-par year in his first season with the team.
“I wasn’t sure,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m here. I’m gonna give my all wherever I’m at. I’m here right now, so that’s something I owe them. I signed here, and I want to honor what I want to do for them.
“Honestly, I was upset with myself a lot last year, just the way my play was early in the year,” he added. “I got put in situations I would say I never really had in my career, and that had nothing to do with anyone else. It was just me. That was a learning point for me in my career, and I’m ready to bounce back from that.”
Stone met with coaches after the Combine
Stone wasn’t sure about the team’s plans for him in 2025, but said he had a productive meeting with the coaches after the NFL Combine.
“When I sat down with them, I told them I want to embrace that leader role in the room,” he said. “We had a long talk, and that’s what they told me, that I’ve got to be that guy this year to lift the whole group up and just be who I was before.
“I sat down with Al, and it was about my tackling angles and things like that,” Stone added. “And I’ll agree with that. I got put in situations last year where I didn’t have the best pursuit angles. That’s something I want to work on as much as I can and get as many reps as I can now through camp. That’s my main emphasis this year.”
Stone has dedicated himself to improving, noting his low draft status in the 2020 NFL Draft as motivation.
He said “I’ve got that seventh-round mentality again,” referencing his No. 219-overall selection.
“It’s not like I lost it or nothing like that,” Stone said. “I don’t want to say I got too comfortable, but at the same time I want to make sure I’m day in and day out competing and working my butt off and making sure everyone else is better around me.”
Whether the pay cut has anything to do with the Hendrickson negotiations is known only to Katie Blackburn and the Bengals front office. Hendrickson wants a lot more money and a new contract, so while Stone’s intentions are admirable, it might not have anything to do with the NFL’s reigning sack leader.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Bengals Safety Takes Pay Cut Hoping to Help Hendrickson appeared first on Heavy Sports.