There is no shortage of opinions on what the Cincinnati Bengals should do with malcontent defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Should they give him what he wants and make him happy? Should they trade him? Continue to low-ball him and let the chips fall where they may?
Well, former Bengals’ wide receiver Chad Johnson is no different. But, he has an excellent frame of reference because he played for the Bengals for 10 years from 2001-2010. So, he’s well aware of what the Brown family is like.
“One thing I know about the Brown family — you’re not going to bully Mike Brown,” Johnson told Shannon Sharpe and Joe Johnson on Nightcap. “It’s not happening. If his feet are cemented and he says, ‘This is what we can do, and this is what we can pay,’ that’s what it’s going to be. You know?
“And I’m hoping, I’m hoping, because defensively we need all hands on deck. We need all the help we can get. Trey Hendrickson had a hell of a year last year and the year before. I would love for him to be compensated as such.”
Chad Johnson says Hendrickson isn’t trying to be a good soldier
There are some people that think Hendrickson showed up to camp this week to prove that he’s a team player and show the team good faith. Considering his last two seasons of 17.5 sacks each, he’s already held up his end of the “prove it” bargain.
Johnson states the obvious, that Hendrickson is only in camp to save money.
“You gotta understand, Trey Hendrickson only came back so he doesn’t have to pay the fines,” Johnson said. “He’s not there. He’s not there, you know—on good notice, right? He’s only there because he don’t want to pay the fines.
“And then—well, we’re still at a standstill. There’s been no forward progress in us getting the deal done. I’m assuming us to be far off. The only reason he’s there is because [he] don’t want to accumulate a certain amount of fines.”
That’s exactly why he showed up to training camp. With all that’s been said, why would he continue to extend an olive branch?
Hendrickson doesn’t want to be a distraction
Hendrickson has done a decent job so far of saying the right things, even if that’s not exactly true. He did say the other day that he doesn’t want to be a distraction for his teammates, but that ship has likely sailed.
“Things are exactly the same,” Hendrickson said, via Marshall Kramsky of WCPO. “What I’m not going to do, is as best I can do, avoid being a distraction. I want to help the guys.”
Everyone wants Hendrickson to get signed and they seem to be in his corner. You have to imagine that quarterback Joe Burrow is doing everything in his power to help his defense. But, perhaps even the almighty face-of-the-franchise might have his super powers neutered by the Gargamel of NFL team owners.
“I just think the job of a quarterback is to be the conduit between ownership, head coach and the locker room,” Burrow said Thursday. “I feel like I have information from the locker room being down there everyday that doesn’t always get relayed upstairs. You know we have great relationships. The more information that I can pass on the better.”
OchoCinco got a front-row seat for how things went sour with his quarterback Carson Palmer. And he also watched them negotiate with Andre Smith in 2009. Oh, and he was a rookie in 2001 when first-round pick Justin Smith was the last of the ones to ink a deal. There might not be a more sober and informed voice on negotiating with the Brown family than Johnson.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Former Bengals Superstar with Blunt Take on Hendrickson Situation appeared first on Heavy Sports.