Cincinnati Bengals Trey Hendrickson speaks at a press conference after practice, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at Kettering Health Practice Fields in Downtown Cincinnati. Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NFL Insider Comments on 'Unpredictable' Trey Hendrickson Situation

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bengals on SI
By Russell Heltman | Last updated Jul 14, 2025 5:56 PM ET

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer noted the Bengals' contract questions entering training camp this week and the "unpredictable" Trey Hendrickson situation.

The star defensive end has been adamant about not playing this season unless he gets a new contract.

"The Trey Hendrickson situation remains, I’d say, unpredictable," Breer wrote. "This is the third consecutive offseason that Cincinnati’s been here with a player who’s posted 35 sacks over the past two years. He will turn 31 in December. He got a one-year Band-Aid of an extension in 2023 to make up for the COVID-19 discount the Bengals got on him in ’21, and no adjustment last year. So it seems pretty unlikely he’s going to be cutting the team any breaks.

"Further complicating things is that Chase got a deal that broke previous Bengals precedents on guarantees, but Higgins’scontract really didn’t, and that Myles Garrett pushed the top of the market at Hendrickson’s position to $40 million per year, while Danielle Hunter and Maxx Crosby got the market for third-contract types into the mid-30s this offseason. So there’s a lot of ground to cover there, even if there wasn’t the history that’s present with this one."

The Bengals typically get their big contracts done closer to the start of the season.

Hendrickson is supremely important to the floor and ceiling of this 2025 defense. Coming to a compromised agreement is likely the best outcome for both sides.