Bengals' Zac Taylor seems happy to be done with Trey Hendrickson drama

Last summer, the Cincinnati Bengals and pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson were involved in a contract standoff that ended in late August when he agreed to a revised deal that gave him a raise for the 2025 season but also kept him in the final year of his agreement. 

The Bengals then let Hendrickson hit the open market this past March, and he ultimately signed a four-year, $112M contract that reportedly can be worth up to $120M to join the rival Baltimore Ravens. As much as Bengals head coach Zac Taylor may not love the idea of Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow having to go up against Hendrickson, Taylor seems relieved that Hendrickson-related storylines are now in his team's past. 

Bengals are moving on from past drama

"It’s a great thing," Taylor recently said about not having to deal with holdouts or contract-related situations this spring, as Laurel Pfahler of the Dayton Daily News shared. "A lot of the drama oftentimes is outside drama. Inside, we’re usually pretty clean with it, guys go about their business, but I feel like everybody’s really focused, showed up, got the work in that we needed them to get, and so now it’s time to move on." 

Throughout the spring, Burrow seemingly told anybody who would listen that he is optimistic about what the 2026 Bengals could accomplish after the club made multiple moves during the offseason to bolster its defense. Specifically, Cincinnati acquired big names such as defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, defensive end Boye Mafe, safety Bryan Cook and safety Kyle Dugger. 

Zac Taylor: New Bengals leadership was "tremendous" this spring

"I thought that the leadership that the new guys have brought in, the free agents that we’ve signed have been tremendous," Taylor added. "They’ve picked it up fast, they played a lot of ball so they understand it very well. So I just thought the chemistry, the communication has really stepped up on that side of the ball, and it’s really good to see."

One report from late May suggested that Taylor is facing a playoffs-or-bust mandate as it pertains to holding onto his job beyond the upcoming season. The Bengals missed the postseason for each of the past three campaigns.