When it comes to getting a new deal, Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson has tried everything. After listening to his stunning remarks to reporters on Tuesday, something occurred to me.
If he takes a stand and doesn’t show up for training camp, he’ll end up being Haason Reddick 2.0.
While we strongly believe that players should fight for every dollar they can get (especially when most fans and far too many in the media align with the billionaires in such battles), no player should overestimate his value — or his leverage.
Hendrickson has real value, but he doesn’t have much leverage. It’s one thing for a rookie who was stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it wage-scale deal to take a stand. It’s another for a veteran who signed a contract as a free agent to get to the later years and realize he did a bad deal.
When a player “outperforms” his second contract, that means the player and his agent failed to properly gauge his eventual value. Or to include devices that protect against overperformance, such as significant incentives or escalators tied to, for example, consecutive seasons of 17.5 sacks.
Hendrickson is due to make $16 million this year. The Bengals, we’ve heard, have offered roughly $28 million per year. Whatever the amount (and, as importantly, the structure), he wants more.
He had a chance to get it, when the team gave him permission to seek a trade. That went nowhere, because no one was willing to give him what he wants (especially since they also would have had to give the Bengals something in return).
Now, Hendrickson is stuck. His options are simple, and few. One, take the team’s best offer on a new deal. Two, play for $16 million and become a free agent in 2026 (unless they tag him). Three, hold out and hope the Bengals will cave.
Here’s the problem for Hendrickson. The Bengals will not cave. On matters of this nature, they do not care. Even as they reluctantly spend where they must (in order to keep Joe Burrow from losing his shit and demanding a trade), the Bengals continue to prioritize making money over pursuing championships.
It’s expensive to be good. Super Bowl trips ain’t free. Travel, hotels, events. It cuts into the piggy bank. (The league provides some assistance for the Super Bowl-week costs, but not much.)
And then, if you win, rings need to be purchased — at roughly $30,000 to $50,000 each. (The NFL apparently contributes $5,000 to $7,000 per ring, for up to 150 of them. Which, of course, means that the Bengals would be tempted to budget $7,001 per ring.)
If Hendrickson wants to skip mandatory minicamp and be fined by the team, that’ll be fine with Bengals owner Mike Brown. If Hendrickson wants to give up $50,000 per day to hold out of training camp, Brown will gladly accept the gift.
And if Hendrickson hopes to sacrifice $888,888 per game to stay away into the regular season, plenty of angels will be getting their wings as the Cincinnati cash register rings and rings.
So if Hendrickson refuses to show up, he’ll eventually be this year’s Reddick. The losses will grow by the day, and he’ll eventually show up.
For Reddick, the Jets gave him a face-saving tweaking of the final year of his contract. The Bengals won’t do that.
By complaining about coach Zac Taylor’s text message that missing mandatory minicamp comes with a fine, Hendrickson tipped his hand. He’s already doing the math on what it will cost to stay away.
So, basically, he can huff and puff all he wants, for now. When it’s time to report for work or face significant fines, he knows what the Bengals will do. And Hendrickson doesn’t seem to be willing to pay the price.
That’s one of the benefits of the Bengals’ unique brand of dysfunction. In situations like this, it’s not a bluff. If a player wants to stay home and increase the organization’s profit margin along the way, they’re fine with that.
At some level, they might even prefer it.
