The good news for the Cincinnati Bengals is that disgruntled defensive end Trey Hendrickson decided to return to the team. The bad news for the Bengals is that Hendrickson said that nothing has changed with his contract situation.
“Things are exactly the same,” Hendrickson said, via Marshall Kramsky of WCPO. “What I’m not going to do, is as best I can do, avoid being a distraction. I want to help the guys.”
It’s probably a bit late to avoid being a distraction. I’m not sure what the percentage of Bengals’ articles have included the name “Trey Hendrickson” since March, but it’s probably pretty high.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter said yesterday that his holdout is ending and that he hopes this will kickstart some conversations.
“Reporting to camp stops the $50,000 per day fines and also serves as a good-faith gesture to try to jumpstart negotiations,” Schefter posted on X. “The NFL’s final holdout is ending.”
Hendrickson said he won’t play under his current contract
Don’t forget, Hendrickson has been clear all offseason that he will not play under his current $16 million contract. It’s the final year of his deal and he’s woefully underpaid when looking at the compensation for comparable talent around the NFL.
Back in May, Hendrickson said that he got a text from head coach Zac Taylor reminding him that he’ll be find if he misses OTAs.
Hendrickson said that “alludes to the fact that something won’t get done in that time frame.”
“And that, with the lack of communication post-draft, made it evidently clear for my party, meaning my wife, my son, my agent, right, like we’re talking a small group of people, that I had to inform that this might not work out,” Hendrickson continued. “And that’s unfortunate, I don’t think it was necessary, I think we all should have hoped for the best until proved otherwise, but through that other things have transpired, like the importance of me being here in OTAs doesn’t seem to be respected, and I think I’ve carried a lot of respect. I don’t mean to insinuate anything about anyone’s character, but that was disappointing.”
He does not sound like a happy Cincinnati camper.
What will Trey Hendrickson’s level of camp participation be?
Now that Hendrickson is in training camp and stated that his contract situation is the exact same as it was on Monday, the question then becomes about how much he’ll practice with the team.
Just because he’s at camp, doesn’t mean he’ll be out there practicing. An outsider’s expectation would be that he’ll be a hold-in. That’s what big-name players have done around the league in recent years. I’ll show up so I don’t get fined (Marshawn Lynch style), but I’m not risking my body.
Hendrickson said months ago that he’s not sure how/when he’ll show up or if he’ll be back playing with the team.
“I don’t have predictive analysis, I’ve been hoping for the best through this entire process,” Hendrickson said back in May. “The only thing that alluded to fines in my book was the text I got yesterday from Zac. That was the first time that — I knew fines are there, we clearly saw that on multiple fronts since I’ve been here, so fines are a part of the NFL, right? We’ll take them as they come, I thought this was a little early to talk about fines, personally, with how I’ve conducted myself in protecting the organization, the place that’s provided for my family, and play football in the National Football League.”
So, who blinks first? Do the Bengals budge on guaranteed money? Is a trade still on the table? We haven’t heard about that option for a while. Knowing the Bengals, they are probably asking for four first-round picks and some defensive coordinator’s first born.
