With all eyes on Trey Hendrickson, something worth pointing out is that when it comes his current contract negotiations, many feel like the Cincinnati Bengals can do no right.
The Bengals signed Hendrickson to a four-year contract worth 60 million in 2021. At the time, Hendrickson wasn't the sack master that he has become – still, the Bengals recognized the underrated talent and made a bet on his future when they signed him to that big deal.
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(Filed under the "I can't believe this is true" category, some fans wanted the team to offer Carl Lawson that contract. That was a bad idea at the time. An even worse idea, given how the past few years have played out for each player and their respective teams. )
Bengals bet on Trey Hendrickson and won
In 2023, the Bengals brass offered a one-year extension recognizing Hendrickson’s value to the team, coming off an eight-sack season. Despite a dip in production, they had a feeling that Hendrickson would be invaluable to future success and wanted to get him under contract for as long as they could. Perhaps his agents should have had the same confidence in him that his team did.
Many think that Hendrickson lacks leverage in this situation. Additionally, everyone is aware that he's underpaid. However, and under-discussed issue with this predicament is how it makes the Bengals look. Most teams would be looked at as ahead of the curve, forward-thinking, shrewdly business-like, and recognizing exceptional value in a rising defensive end market. But not the Bengals.
Before the offseason began, the football world was full of lists for Tee Higgins’ next team. Everyone had a vision of the Bengals being unwilling or unable to sign Ja’Marr Chase, Higgins, and Hendrickson all to new contracts. Then, surprise and shock rained down when the team got deals done with their two star receivers.
Now, with Hendrickson still under contract for another season, the NFL world is once again perplexed with how the two sides haven't agreed on a deal.
(It also feels like there are far fewer people telling Hendrickson to play out the final year left on his contract than there were people were telling Chase the same a year ago.)
The Bengals were always in a no-win scenario. People who criticize the organization for being cheap would have ridiculed the team for not getting deals done with both wideouts if the Bengals extended Chase and Hendrickson. (Or, even worse, if they worked out a deal for only Chase.) Some even criticized the team for giving Higgins a contract, saying that Joe Burrow shouldn’t need two standout pass-catchers.
At this point, even some of the franchise’s harshest and loudest critics must understand that the organization can do no right. Even in the parts of the contract that the Bengals “won,” no one says what a great negotiating job the team did – instead, many criticized Higgins for signing a team-friendly deal.
Other teams “can’t sign everyone.” The Bengals, on the other hand, must sign, restructure, or resign everyone. Otherwise, they are being cheap.
Eliminate “This contract will be a bargain in a few years” from the lexicon
One of the NFL's favorite clichés is that a newly signed contract will look like a bargain in about two or three years. In the moment, the player gets a substantial raise, and the club receives a team-friendly deal. But when that third or fourth year rolls around, it's no longer a bargain for the player. Then, all of a sudden, the Bengals – really, NFL teams in general – come off looking cheap.
Cincinnati signed Hendrickson to a four-year deal that proved to be a substantial bargain before the end. So much so, the team offered to add another year to the agreement, which Hendrickson’s side accepted. A contract that Katie Blackburn negotiated so well that the team now looks cheap, and she looks bad after some unfortunate comments regarding the situation.
Bengals front office deserves some credit
After a player has outperformed his contract, that value looks even greater for the team. Instead of getting praised for finding so much value, they are now villains, operating within the rules set forth by the NFL's collective bargaining agreement.
Contrary to how this may sound, this is not a pro-organization stance – every player should receive the money they deserve and have the opportunity to re-negotiate. Trey Hendrickson undoubtedly should be getting paid more this season. But there is something to be said for the Bengals signing Hendrickson as a free agent, recognizing what he could bring to the team, and then agreeing to a big-time extension (for that time). As much as we give them grief for the picks and signings we disagree with, they deserve some praise for when they get it so correct.
In the end, the Bengals will probably never get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to contracts. They often face ridicule for their practices. We are seeing it again with Shemar Stewart and the stalemate around his contract. But if this were any other team dealing with Hendrickson, we could discuss how smart they are, and the value contract they negotiated.
We all hope something gets worked out with Hendrickson. If it does, the club won't get much credit for it. If it doesn't, it will be the same old Bengals. But what's new?