You won't find many defenders of the Cincinnati Bengals' front office outside of their own fan base. The powers that be in Cincinnati have improved in many areas during the Joe Burrow era, but their dealings with agents and player contracts still leave a lot to be desired.
Did the Bengals get just about everything done that they needed to this offseason? Yes. They extended offensive weapons Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Mike Gesicki. They gave stud pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson a big pay raise. They even made some late additions to boost the trenches on both sides with Dalton Risner and Mike Pennel.
Alas, the rest of the league still holds the organization in rather low esteem — or at least that's the consensus from the agents tasked to navigate the hardball Bengals brain trust.
Annual NFL agent poll names Bengals most unstable franchise
Washington Commanders reporter Ben Standig conducted a survey of 24 NFL agents and asked them a variety of questions about their dealings with NFL teams.
This is the seventh year Standig has collected such data. Despite all of Cincinnati's commendable offseason moves, the Bengals were named the least-stable franchise in the league. Here are a couple of quotes from Standig's piece, via two different agents:
"There is always some kind of issue there and not much accountability. This offseason, the contract negotiation for Trey Hendrickson and the language in the contract of their first-round pick are great examples. Every agent knows what’s coming."
"Mom and pop ownership. In 2025. Makes it difficult to navigate."
Cincinnati received 5.5 votes, followed by the Micah Parsons-trading Dallas Cowboys at 3.5. The division rival Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers rounded out the top four with three votes apiece. Not the best company to keep!
Bengals owner Mike Brown may be 90 years old, but his family will continue running the team in perpetuity. It stands to reason similar negotiating tactics are bound to persist.
This survey underscores why I regarded the Hendrickson raise — in lieu of a multi-year extension with at least two seasons' worth of guaranteed money — as a franchise-damaging half-measure. Two straight years of 17.5 sacks weren't enough to secure Hendrickson's job, which is absurd any way you slice it.
The Bengals dragged their feet on Higgins' extension for two full years, and did so with Chase during their 2024 training camp. Even Burrow had to wait until September 2023 for his landmark extension to be finalized when he first became eligible for a second contract.
Rookie first-round pick Shemar Stewart was forced to hold out of most of the offseason program because of Cincinnati's insistence on certain offset contract language. Stewart gave in eventually, with minimal concessions granted by the team.
I'll say it approximately a gazillion times next offseason when Hendrickson and the Bengals return to the negotiating table and try to figure out their future together (if there is one): Cincinnati's reputation is what it is for a reason. Fair or not, regardless of recent improvements during Burrow's tenure, the perception takes a long time to catch up to reality. That's self-evident based on the survey of NFL agents.
Brown and the Bengals' upper management should be doing everything possible to ingratiate themselves with past players, current players, and prospective free agents who might be interested in coming to Cincinnati. They seem allergic to that initiative — and it's costing them dearly in the eyes of agents and others across the NFL.
Playing at Paycor Stadium in front of amazing fans on a team led by the likes of Burrow isn't a hard sell. A smaller NFL market, and most importantly, a notoriously stingy front office make the Bengals a far less attractive destination than they ought to be.