Last year, the Bengals gave defensive end Trey Hendrickson a one-year extension with $21 million in new money. This year, Hendrickson wants a new contract or a trade.
Not surprisingly, the Bengals didn't want to trade him.
Via Paul Dehner Jr. of TheAthletic.com, the Bengals “Zero interestIn trading Hendrickson to a new team.
Whether they'll fix his contract is another matter. He should make $14.8 million in 2024 and $15.8 million in 2025. That's less than half the current market, and he has 17.5 sacks in 2023.
Some would say his agent should have done better in negotiations last year. Even if that is true, the player is not happy. And the situation got out of hand. Bangladesh should consider fixing it.
Hendrickson is considering retirement. Although it might work with other groups, we've seen this film before in Cincinnati. With quarterback Carson Palmer. If Jason Campbell hadn't broken a collarbone two days before the 2011 trade deadline, Palmer might still be on the Bengals' reserve-retired list.
And, yes, no new deal can be done until his last one year completion. It's only three months away. If the Bengals make a blink-and-you-miss-it commitment now to do this deal later, that could be good enough for Hendrickson.
