Trey Hendrickson contract: Timeline of dispute with Bengals over long-term deal explained

USA Today

2 days ago

Trey Hendrickson wants the Cincinnati Bengals to show him the money.
The star pass rusher is in a familiar spot as the ramp-up for the 2025 regular season begins – without a new contract. It's an issue that has spanned multiple offseasons now, before rearing its ugly head this time around.
What he wants, the Bengals aren't willing to give.
Hendrickson wasn't just on the sidelines as training camp began, he wasn't even in the building – or the state. The All-Pro went home to Florida while waiting to see who blinks first.
Ultimately, it's him.
In a gesture of good faith, the Bengals star reported to training camp on July 30 without a new contract in place. It comes less than a week after Cincinnati signed first-round pick Shemar Stewart to his rookie contract – ending one dispute along its defensive line.
It remains a mystery when, and if, Hendrickson will receive a new contract, but perhaps the best way to understand the current situation is to look back at how we arrived here.
Trey Hendrickson contract timeline
After spending his first four seasons with the New Orleans Saints, Hendrickson hit the open market and elected to sign with the Bengals in free agency. He inked a four-year, $60 million deal coming off a 13.5-sack season at age 26.
Hendrickson was tasked with replacing Carl Lawson, who departed for the New York Jets. The former Saint delivered in a big way, outplaying his contract by a large margin, recording 57 sacks in 65 games.
Coming off two consecutive Pro Bowl seasons, it was clear that Hendrickson's production didn't match his salary. He posted 22 sacks and six forced fumbles in just 31 games over his first two seasons in Cincinnati.
The Bengals awarded him with a one-year extension worth $21 million, including $8 million guaranteed, keeping Hendrickson in Cincinnati through the 2025 season.
Hendrickson told the Associated Press at the time that he wanted to remain with the Bengals.
"They gave me a tremendous opportunity two years ago, there was a lot of question marks around my name," Hendrickson said, via the AP. "They believed in me. And I still have the same desire to prove them right in the way they've invested in me. And that's not something I take lightly. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. And the way they handle things, the organization, the way they care about people, like I said earlier, so just staying in the building personally for me is important."
Hendrickson responded in a big way after earning the one-year extension, recording 17.5 sacks during the 2023 season – a new career-high. That put the pass-rusher in a position to seek some more long-term security, but the Bengals weren't willing to entertain those talks.
The team already extended Joe Burrow the year prior and then faced the looming reality of new deals for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
Hendrickson opted to rejoin the team in May after requesting a trade in late April.
"When you're told 'no,' it's something that I want to explore all options," Hendrickson said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, of why he requested a trade. "If it wasn't going to happen long-term here for the security of my family, exploring the option where they would have a benefit also in potentially looking elsewhere but I'm also humbled by the experience that they want me to be here. The communication is very open and transparent, very respectful so I have nothing but good things to say. At the end of the day, it was a decision for my family."
He ended up playing under the contract, as constructed, during the 2024 season.
By this point, it was clear that Hendrickson's performance was no fluke. He followed up a dominant 2023 season with an even better year in 2024. He led the league with 17.5 sacks and was named a first-team All-Pro for the first time in his career.
Hendrickson finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, putting an exclamation point on a dominant season.
Without a new contract looming, the star requested a trade for the second time in as many years and this time, the Bengals granted him permission to seek employment elsewhere.
"I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at," Blackburn said via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he's not, you know, that's what holds it up sometimes. So, you know, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him. He's been a great player. We're happy to have him. And so maybe we'll find a way to get something to work. We're just gonna see where it goes."
Blackburn's comments can be seen as somewhat of a turning point in the saga, sparking a war of words in the media.
One day later, Hendrickson made an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," where he detailed his disappointment in Blackburn's comments and the situation as a whole.
Chase and Higgins both received their extensions by this point, leaving Hendrickson as the last remaining star on the team without one.
"Communication has been poor over the last couple months," Hendrickson said at the time. "They have not communicated with my agent directly. It's been something that's been a little bit frustrating."
Hendrickson said his understanding was that a deal would get done this offseason and added that he had no desire to be the highest-paid.
Over a month later, Hendrickson showed up to the team's voluntary workout as a spectator and opted to hold an impromptu press conference – where he expressed that he won't play the upcoming season without a new contract.
He said that the situation had become personal and was asked if he wanted to remain in Cincinnati.
"That's a tough question too," Hendrickson said via WPCO 9's Marshall Kramsky. "You try to not let the business become personal, I think over the last week or so it's become personal unfortunately. When there's a lack of communication in any relationship, if it's business or personal relationship, lack of communication leads to animosity. That leaves my narrative only to me with no clear direction."
Hendrickson later elaborated on his decision to start speaking out publicly.
"I think a lot of players in the past have been silent or didn't stand on values where telling the truth will set you free," Hendrickson said. "I'm a Floridian. So there is unprovoked shark attacks and there is provoked shark attacks. The comments that are being made, whatever happened at the combine, whatever happened at the owner's meetings and the text I got yesterday, this is not something where I'm just twiddling my thumbs and thinking, 'how can I get the next one up?'"
A cease-fire of sorts, the two sides returned to the negotiating table in June, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
It was presumably the first time the parties resumed discussions since before the 2025 NFL Draft, as Hendrickson previously noted that he hadn't spoken to the team in the aftermath of the offseason's marquee event.
On the eve of training camp report day for veterans in Cincinnati, Bengals de-facto general manager Duke Tobin said he expected Hendrickson to show up on July 22.
"Trey is an important part of our team," Tobin said. "He's under contract and we expect him to be here... He's a guy who has been very valuable. He has earned a raise and extension. We'll see if we can come together on something.'
Bengals owner Mike Brown took a different approach, stating that the team will not trade Hendrickson and that he can sometimes be a difficult person to deal with.
"Trey Hendrickson is a fine player and a good guy," Brown said. "We want him here. Dealing with him is sometimes not so easy. That's all right. He's got the right to argue his case, we'll try to make sense of it from our perspective... as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better."
Contract talks broke down over guaranteed money, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, and Hendrickson elected to return to Florida as training camp opened.
"All I know right now is Trey Hendrickson is in Florida," ESPN's Adam Schefter told USA TODAY Sports in an interview. "The Bengals have offered him one year of guaranteed money. He wants at least three years of guaranteed money like the other top pass rushers – Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt – have gotten. He hasn't gotten that."
ESPN's Adam Schefter said on "The Pat McAfee Show" that a deal is in place between Hendrickson and the Bengals, but issues remain regarding guaranteed money. Schefter noted that the dispute is in the $6 million to $10 million range.
He expects that, if and when a deal gets done, it will be for three years.
In a surprising turn of events, Hendrickson opted to end his holdout and report to training camp.
The Bengals star officially walked out to the practice field on July 30, which also puts an end to the $50,000-per-day fine that he was subjected to for missing camp.
Hendrickson notably wasn't in uniform and won't participate in practice, but it appears to be a step in the right direction.
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