The Cincinnati Bengals have plenty of questions that will need to be answered this offseason. One of the biggest is a lingering one from last season. What are the Bengals and pass rusher Trey Hendrickson going to do?
ESPN’s NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler did not have a positive update regarding them sticking together:
“This relationship has run its course. The Bengals have the option to franchise-tag Hendrickson, but after a year of contentious contract negotiations, the edge rusher appears poised to land elsewhere and capitalize on a booming positional market.”
The contract drama between Cincinnati and Hendrickson got to the level where you could tell the NFL veteran took it personally. To be fair, the Bengals had a front office member come out talking about their frustrations with the negotiations.
It seemed like a deal would never get done, but near the beginning of the season, Hendrickson and Cincinnati agreed on a pay bump for his last remaining year on his contract.
The most shocking thing is that there was no clause in the contract to prevent Hendrickson from being franchise tagged this offseason. That would lock him to the Bengals and keep him from reaching the open market yet again.
It is hard to see how things would change when looking at a long-term deal. Hendrickson is another year older and missed most of last season due to injury. Those are two historic red flags for the Bengals. Another team would almost certainly be willing to give him a major contract, as he still is one of the best when he is out there.
The only question is when the drop-off will happen in his production?
The Bengals have spent two first-round picks on defensive ends recently. Myles Murphy finally looks like he was worth the pick. However, Shemar Stewart had his own contract drama last offseason, missing a huge chunk of OTAs and training camp. He also missed nine games due to injury.
There is no question that the Bengals’ defense is better with Hendrickson on it. Just about every NFL defense could say that. It is a matter of whether Hendrickson would be open to another one-year deal with Cincinnati on the franchise tag. It just does not seem like a realistic possibility at the end of the day.
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