Trey Hendrickson could miss games over contract dispute or worse, per report

There is a route this can go that is worse than Hendrickson holding out into the regular season.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in a contract pickle with their star pass rusher, Trey Hendrickson.

While he led the league in sacks last year, he is set to be 30 for the 2025 season, an age at which the Bengals have issues giving large contracts.

That has created an offseason in which Hendrickson has been outspoken about wanting a new contract, and he will not play without one.

While Hendrickson hasn’t outright said that he would be willing to miss games over this, ESPN’s Ben Baby and Jeremy Fowler are reporting that this scenario is very possible.

“If no deal occurs, I’ve spoken to several people who believe Hendrickson very well might follow through on his promise to miss games or even the season. “He’s extremely dug in,” a source said.”

A huge part of why this has gotten so complicated is twofold. Hendrickson wants long-term security and is on record as saying that adding a year to the contract isn’t going to be enough. It is fair to question whether two would even be enough.

The pass-rushing market has also exploded, with several players crossing the $35 million threshold. Making the $30 million mark may already be hard enough and may be where Hendrickson ultimately may have to concede to taking if he wants a longer deal.

Some insiders are still optimistic that a deal gets done, but there exists a scenario where Cincinnati sees this get even uglier.

“He could end up making this as bitter as possible, as Carlos Dunlap did in 2020, which left the Bengals no choice but to trade him in the middle of the season. If the rest of the league knows Cincinnati has to eradicate a toxic situation, that could also impact the type of trade compensation teams are willing to offer.”

After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Carlos Dunlap showed the blueprint for forcing your way off the Bengals. Dunlap was frustrated in the 2020 season with how former defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was using him. He requested a trade but was ignored. It wasn’t until he told everyone who would listen that he was unhappy, leaked potential depth charts prior to a game, and even openly argued with coaches on the sideline that the Bengals finally gave in and traded the veteran pass rusher.

Hendrickson may very well see this as a route out of Cincinnati as well, in a worst-case scenario where he is forced to play on this current deal.

We are all obviously hoping the Bengals finally reach a deal with Hendrickson and that he remains a Bengal for years to come. This is just a very ugly situation with so many layers to it.