The Cincinnati Bengals have three big names and contracts to figure out this offseason.
Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins dominate the spotlight, but a standoff with star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson has been brewing since last offseason.
Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin recently addressed the Hendrickson situation, but it hasn’t stopped some outside the organization from throwing out warnings.
One such name is NFL insider Ari Meirov, who warned viewers that Hendrickson isn’t going to play on the final year of his current contract.
“I’m just going to make this clear right now,” Meirov said, “If the Bengals don’t extend Trey Hendrickson, this situation has the potential to get really, really messy…he is not going to play on the final year of this contract.”
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This one wasn’t hard to see coming, even if it does fall behind in the national spotlight compared to Chase and Higgins.
Hendrickson, after all, requested a trade last offseason due to feeling underpaid on his current contract. That eventually faded and he wound up leading the NFL with 17.5 sacks this season.
The Bengals will need to bump Hendrickson’s pay dramatically in order to avoid drama and the star defender seems to have all the leverage, considering the poor state of the defense around him.
Whether team and player agree on the number, though, is hard to say, as the Bengals don’t usually love throwing massive money at veterans who are at or over the age of 30.
