Trey Hendrickson should consider doing what Tee Higgins did last year to get what he wants from the Bengals

Hendrickson made it clear he's frustrated by the Bengals not engaging in negotiations or anything resembling contract talks since the 2025 NFL Draft. This aligns with his previous public grievances, including multiple appearances on the Pat McAfee Show.  

One side wants this resolved now, while the other wants it resolved on their own terms. The latter side happens to hold all the power here.

There is no firm deadline for the Bengals to extend Hendrickson. If he skips out on OTAs and mandatory minicamp, the club can live with that. If he fails to report to training camp, there's precedent there as well. The start of the regular season is the closest thing to a deadline on the horizon, and that's over three months away.

Cincinnati can wait this out and watch Hendrickson come back to the team when it's time to play. Sitting out an entire season is not in the cards for someone who will turn 31 years old coming off the best year of his career. He wants to cash in while he still can before anything about the 2025 season can potentially damage his next paycheck.

The best way to get the money he wants may be to emulate what Tee Higgins did last year.

Trey Hendrickson should consider switching agents while there's still time

Remember when I used the words "greed" and "incompetence?" Greed is all over the Bengals in this scenario as they're unwilling to match the price Hendrickson is eyeing for his services. Hendrickson's camp is also likely not without blame for this mess.

Hendrickson is only under contract right now because his agent, Harold Lewis of National Sports Agency, successfully negotiated a one-year, $21 million extension for him back in 2023. The deal gave Hendrickson an added year to his four-year. $60 million contract he signed as a free agent in 2021, as well as some up-front cash to boot. 

It's now time for Hendrickson to play out his extension, and for the second year in a row, the defensive end requested a raise and a trade off the team. 

No one is saying Hendrickson isn't worthy of another pay raise, but accepting a measly one-year extension a full year prior to putting together an All-Pro season is, in hindsight, inadvisable. It was learned that this deal was made as a compromise as Hendrickson wanted more money and years, and the team successfully pushed it off to the future.

The Bengals aren't going to budge until they feel they have; not after agreeing to two deals in the last four years. Lewis' strategy in getting them to budge is clearly not working. If it's true they haven't communicated with him since the draft, then his efforts are falling on deaf ears. His ineptitude toward achieving his client's goal is all that matters at this point.

When the Bengals do not want to communicate, you cannot force them to do so. Higgins learned that last year when he had to play on the franchise tag. Talks for an extension never resurfaced and his time in Cincinnati looked to be ending once the 2024 season concluded. 

Until Higgins himself took the initiative to make the Bengals listen.

Higgins fired agent David Mulugheta sometime during the season and hired Rocky Arceneaux. Cincinnati had a long history working with Arceneaux and most recently engaged contract talks with him on behalf of Ja'Marr Chase. Higgins hiring Arceneaux and joining forces with Chase essentially forced the club's hand, and both players received contract extensions in March. 

The chances of that happening if Higgins stuck with Mulugheta were extremely slim. Borderline impossible. Higgins did what needed to be done to get the contract he wanted from Cincinnati, and it didn't involve any public statement or talk show appearance.

Hendrickson's methods, Lewis' methods, or their combined methodology is not getting the job done. Hendrickson is on pace to either play out the extension he agreed to in 2023, or give in to the team's offer. Either way, the Bengals come out on top without having to do anything.

That may be how this goes, but either result would take time. If Hendrickson is so frustrated to release this statement at the onset of football's dead period when urgency is at the lowest point on the calendar, waiting may not be on his mind.

He cannot expect the Bengals to move in the face of public pressure. Only tangible action can do such a thing. A different approach from the work of a different agent may be what he needs to get what he wants. 

It worked for Higgins. Who's to say it wouldn't work for him?