The Cincinnati Bengals did the contract negotiating equivalent of spitting in Trey Hendrickson's face for years. Although he's signing for less money than Cincinnati offered him last offseason for the duration of his contract, he's presumably getting guarantees beyond the first year of his new deal.
After the stunning plot twist of Maxx Crosby's trade to the Ravens not going through, Baltimore turned right around and signed Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million deal, per Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz.
Welp. Can't say I didn't see this coming, having just written about how the Crosby trade disaster set the stage for Hendrickson to vengefully join a division rival.
Trey Hendrickson (predictably) signs with AFC North rival Ravens in free agency
The three-year, $95 million offer the Bengals reportedly presented to Hendrickson last year didn't include guarantees after Year 1. Because, you know, Cincinnati is weird like that.
Hendrickson wanted the security and respect that comes with post-Year 1 guarantees. The Bengals didn't give it to him. They had plenty of cap space to keep him through 2028. Now, they'll face him at least six times in that span, assuming he gets through the duration of his Ravens contract.
Heavens forbid a player didn't want to be yo-yo'd — is that correct? — every single year. That's how Cincinnati wanted to dictate the terms for the remainder of Hendrickson's career were he to have stayed in the Queen City. He wasn't having it, and frankly, I don't blame him.
It's just hilarious that the Bengals are steadfast in their refusal to pull every lever available to keep their best players, or make the maximum room possible to add more.
We'll see what the rest of free agency has in store for Cincinnati's galaxy-brained personnel department folk. Duke Tobin at least signed a viable safety in Bryan Cook and a solid defensive end in Boye Mafe. However, the Bengals were outbid for very doable acquisitions at linebacker on Tuesday in the Chiefs' Leo Chenal and the Falcons' Kaden Elliss.
It's unclear what the plan is at linebacker. Perhaps Cincinnati caught wind of the impending Crosby trade call-off, and Tobin is planning to steal him away — especially now that Hendrickson is headed to Baltimore.
Just kidding. The Bengals would never do that. Not with Crosby's failed physical and their in-perpetuity aversion to any sort of risk for acquiring a superstar player.
Right...?