For the past two summers, star defensive end Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengals have been at odds with a long-term extension. Hendrickson had a brief holdout of early 2024 workouts, but put it aside, only to have a historic season.
In 2025, Hendrickson’s contract impasse was more pronounced and received much more national attention after his 17.5-sack campaign. After sitting out training camp, Hendrickson returned shortly before the regular season after a pay bump for 2025. Unfortunately, he was injured in Week 6 and didn’t appear in another game after Week 8 versus the Jets.
As the Bengals enter offseason mode, Hendrickson is the biggest question to tackle. Zac Taylor recently spoke of “a path” for Hendrickson to remain a Bengal, but more and more reports are surfacing that the odds of Hendrickson returning to Cincinnati in 2026 seems to be almost laughable.
Paul Dehner, Jr. of The Athletic recently shared some thoughts about the relationship status of the two sides, and, spoiler alert: it isn’t pretty.
Zac Taylor was asked about there being a path to Hendrickson coming back this week and said, “There’s always a path.” He said that because he had to, because there is no path here. It’s actually kind of funny envisioning what the real-life version of that path would be. My best answer would be to Google the Darien Gap. Bridges have been set on fire here, so there’s no realistic return to Cincinnati for 2026 in the plans. When they let him walk, the team would likely receive a 2027 third-round compensatory pick.
Chance of return: 1 percent
Even if the 2024 mini-holdout was water-under-the-bridge for Hendrickson, the 2025 holdout bore obvious frustrations. He saw other offensive stars get big paydays (deservedly so), believed he was also due for a big raise, and got only a fraction of what he deserved this year.
From the Bengals’ side of things, this screams of a scenario wherein the brain trust will likely feel they were justified in not giving him a long-term extension due to Hendrickson’s 2025 injury. Their hesitancy in doling out another big deal to Hendrickson was largely attributed to his age (he’ll be 32 in December).
Other national insiders are also noting the gap between the parties, so it appears that the big question is around the franchise tag. Will the Bengals continue to frustrate Hendrickson and place it on him in an effort to recoup some capital, or will they allow him to enter the open market without protecting themselves?
Even if it irks Hendrickson, Cincinnati engaging in a tag-and-trade scenario is the wisest and most likely “path,” given the reports. They could keep him on the tag and give him another solid pay raise for 2026, but with Hendrickson lobbying for a long-term deal, we could see another holdout should this be the chosen route.
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