Hendrickson Contract Talks Resume, but Bengals Doing Plenty of Damage

Most of the major news regarding the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason has been about contracts. Whether it’s players like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins getting new ones, a player like Trey Hendrickson wanting a new one, or a rookie just wanting his first one. The situations are slightly different, but the through line usually has to do with the Bengals not wanting to open up the checkbook.

In Hendrickson’s case, there might be some optimism. Sources tell ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that contract talks have been reignited.

“Sources: #Bengals and All-Pro DE Trey Hendrickson have resumed contract talks,” Fowler posted Sunday on X.

About a month ago, Hendrickson didn’t seem so confident that a deal would get done. He even strongly hinted that he’s frustrated with the entire situation and possibly even holding a personal grudge.

“When there’s a lack of communication in any relationship, where it’s a business or personal relationship, lack of communication leads to animosity, and that leaves my narrative only to me with no clear direction,” Hendrickson said in early May.

Hendrickson’s situation is spilling into the rest of the locker room

As much as it’s unwritten code for professional athletes not to get involved in a teammate’s contract situation, these things don’t happen in a vaccuum. The Bengals don’t seem to realize that plenty of other people notice when you’re constantly having problems when it comes to signing players.

Shemar Stewart is an unsigned edge rusher out of Texas A&M. He not only noticed what was happening with Hendrickson, but it sounds like the team’s thriftiness is a common topic around the locker room water cooler (Bengals’ players tend to congregate around the water cooler knowing they’ll have problems taking any Gatorade home with them).

“In my case, I’m 100% right,” Stewart said a couple weeks ago. “I’m not asking for nothing that’s never been done before. In [the team’s case], y’all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games, in my opinion.”

Based on that quote, you’d think Stewart is in his fourth year looking for his second contract. Nope! He’s an unsigned first-round pick who will be counted on heavily to help fix the 25th-ranked defense in the entire NFL last year.

“It’s made it very easy when the people in your locker room say you’re doing the right things,” Stewart said. “Especially the star players.”

“We all agree Trey is right, right?” Stewart told a room of reporters. “But, technically he’s still 1% wrong, for being under contract. I’m 100% right so it should be a no-brainer. In Trey’s case, I think it should be a no-brainer too. I mean, he had 17 sacks for two years back to back…”

Are the Bengals hearing any of this?

This is something you just don’t see in professional sports. An unsigned rookie publicly weighing in on the contract of one of the best players in all of football at his position. You rarely see this from established, veteran players let alone a rookie who hasn’t even stepped foot on a practice field yet.

Yet, throughout this process, the Bengals have sounded tone deaf. There really seems to be an attitude of you-should-be-happy-to-have-a-job. Katie Blackburn, the daughter of owner Mike Brown and the Bengals’ executive vice president, has come off like a bad high school guidance counselor in all of this.

“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Blackburn said back in April. “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.”

Sure, just see where it goes, Katie. That hasn’t worked so far, but stay the course. Dragging your feet only causes more locker room strife and Hendrickson’s price to go up. Hopefully, she’s keeping an eye on potential new deals for Micah Parsons and T.J. Watt; Hendrickson certainly is.