The Cincinnati Bengals and Trey Hendrickson are mired in a contract dispute as you may have heard. Hendrickson wants to be paid like the back-to-back 17.5-sack defensive end that he is, but the Bengals (as per usual) want to low ball a star player.
If Cincinnati wanted to rename their NFL team The Broken Records it would be apropos. Or maybe even the Cincinnati Definition of Insanities.
ESNP’s Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter went on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday and said that talks between the two sides are not going well.
“They’re talking again, but they’re not any further along,” Schefter said. “They’re talking, it doesn’t mean a whole lot right now. It will mean something if and when they can figure a way to get a deal done, which they have been unable to do. I think there is a disagreement over value and I think most important, there’s a disagreement on length here.”
That would seem like the two most important parts of working out a contract. It would also seem like the length shouldn’t be a huge issue since NFL contracts can be backloaded with years that really don’t matter on the back end. That’s for the Bengals’ salary cap team to worry about.
But, still, it’s an issue apparently.
“Length of deal, I think that’s also an issue here,” Schefter continued. “The Bengals would like a shorter deal, Hendrickson would like a longer deal. And they can’t even find common ground on the length of the deal right now.”
Bengals aren’t offering anything close to market value
Hendrickson is 30-years old, which is a tricky age. He’s still productive, but not many teams would want to keep a guy at 34-years old or so with a high price tag. That’s understandable. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t give him close to market value up front.
According to Billy Heyen of The Sporting News, they are way off on the annual average value (AAV).
“The Bengals reportedly offered Hendrickson in the neighborhood of $28 million per year, but that’s still $7 million AAV off of Maxx Crosby and Nick Bosa,” Heyen writes. “Cincinnati is also reportedly not inclined to guarantee multiple years of the deal, which is something any other pass rusher of Hendrickson’s caliber wouldn’t have to deal with in their own negotiations with other teams.”
Bengals are probably looking at Danielle Hunter’s deal
The Houston Texans just signed defensive end Danielle Hunter to a $35.6 million contract extension in March, which keeps him in town through 2026.
Hunter will make $32 million in 2025 and $55.1 million over the next two seasons with $54.1 million fully guaranteed. This will make him the second-highest defensive end in football behind the Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett, who has a $40 million AAV. There is no way the Bengals are giving Hendrickson Myles Garrett money.
Crosby and Bosa are making about $35.5 million per year and that’s more in line with what Hendrickson should get. Crosby has never had more than 14.5 sacks in a season and Bosa had 18.5 sacks back in 2022. So, if the Bengals are coming to the table with around $28 million per year, it’s not difficult for people to understand why Hendrickson feels disrespected.
$35 million seems to be the going rate for players of this caliber. None of them are the game wreckers that Garrett is, so $40 million is out of the question. The Bengals will probably drag their feet, the market will go up when guys like T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons get paid, Hendrickson will hold out, and Cincinnati will end up paying more than they would have if they just took care of it now.
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