'It's Become Personal, Unfortunately' - Trey Hendrickson States He Won't Play During 2025 Season On Current Deal

 Trey Hendrickson spoke to the media on Tuesday following Cincinnati's latest voluntary workout at Paycor Stadium, noting how personal things have gotten.

Hendrickson did not participate amidst ongoing contract issues with the Bengals. He confirmed that he does not plan to play for one year and $16 million in cash this coming season. The star is "spent" with all of the contract drama.

"This was something that happened very quickly," Hendrickson said about his latest stances on the situation. "Same thing with the trade, same thing with the comments. These aren't something that I meditated on. It's something that I talked to my wife about. We prayed about it, and we address these things as Hendrickson's."

Hendrickson adamantly told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday that the Bengals have not reached out to him about continued negotiations since the 2025 NFL Draft at the end of April.

It's clear he wants to be a Bengal long-term, but it's still not cemented for a player who posted 35 sacks over the past two seasons on bad defenses.

"I think that's one thing I found through this whole process, is the way I feel is not being conveyed," Hendrickson stated. "I am disappointed. I definitely love Cincinnati, so it's just this weird dilemma, right? And I think players go through it a lot more often. I'm just not going to let fear overtake me and also give me a platform glorify God in the good and in the bad. So, now I'm very blessed. So the perspectives I can't control. I'm a football player and I'm itching to play football."

Cincinnati's next mandatory workout is minicamp from June 10-12. He noted that head coach Zac Taylor entered the fray by telling him he'd be fined if does not participate in those sessions.

"A little bit transpired between me and Zac," He said. "We've tried to keep it the least amount personal as possible. But at some point in this process, it becomes personal. Being sent 30 days before mandatory camp, or however many days it is that if I don't show up, I will be fined, alludes to the fact that something won't get done in that time frame, and that, with the lack of communication post-draft made it evidently clear from my party, meaning my wife, my son, my agent, right? Like we're talking a small group of people, that I had to inform [them] that this might not work out. And that's unfortunate. I don't think it was necessary. I think we all should have hope for the best until proven otherwise."

Hendrickson isn't holding ill will against his coach in this messy stretch of the calendar.

"The fines that were communicated with me were talking about mandatory minicamp," Hendrickson noted about the Bengals' stance. "That's why I said there's about 20 days until then. I didn't understand the purpose behind [Zac Taylor] shooting me a text.

"We should have gone 25 days, but again, we can go through the process. I probably would have been upset a day before, an hour before, or 60 days ago."