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NBC Sports
17-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Trey Hendrickson, if he doesn't blink, is on track to be Haason Reddick 2.0
When it comes to getting a new deal, Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson has tried everything. After listening to his stunning remarks to reporters on Tuesday, something occurred to me. If he takes a stand and doesn't show up for training camp, he'll end up being Haason Reddick 2.0. While we strongly believe that players should fight for every dollar they can get (especially when most fans and far too many in the media align with the billionaires in such battles), no player should overestimate his value — or his leverage. Hendrickson have real value, but he doesn't have much leverage. It's one thing for a rookie who was stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it wage-scale deal to take a stand. It's another for a veteran who signed a contract as a free agent to get to the later years and realize he did a bad deal. When a player 'outperforms' his second contract, that means the player and his agent failed to properly gauge his eventual value. Or to include devices that protect against overperformance, such as significant incentives or escalators tied to, for example, consecutive seasons of 17.5 sacks. Hendrickson is due to make $16 million this year. The Bengals, we've heard, have offered roughly $28 million per year. Whatever the amount (and, as importantly, the structure), he wants more. He had a chance to get it, when the team gave him permission to seek a trade. That went nowhere, because no one was willing to give him what he wants (especially since they also would have had to give the Bengals something in return). Now, Hendrickson is stuck. His options are simple, and few. One, take the team's best offer on a new deal. Two, play for $16 million and become a free agent in 2026 (unless they tag him). Three, hold out and hope the Bengals will cave. Here's the problem for Hendrickson. The Bengals will not cave. On matters of this nature, they do not care. Even as they reluctantly spend where they must (in order to keep Joe Burrow from losing his shit and demanding a trade), the Bengals continue to prioritize making money over pursuing championships. It's expensive to be good. Super Bowl trips ain't free. Travel, hotels, events. It cuts into the piggy bank. (The league provides some assistance for the Super Bowl-week costs, but not much.) And then, if you win, rings need to be purchased — at roughly $30,000 to $50,000 each. (The NFL apparently contributes $5,000 to $7,000 per ring, for up to 150 of them. Which, of course, means that the Bengals would be tempted to budget $7,001 per ring.) If Hendrickson wants to skip mandatory minicamp and be fined by the team, that'll be fine with Bengals owner Mike Brown. If Hendrickson wants to give up $50,000 per day to hold out of training camp, Brown will gladly accept the gift. And it Hendrickson hopes to sacrifice $888,888 per game to stay away into the regular season, plenty of angels will be getting their wings as the Cincinnati cash register rings and rings. So if Hendrickson refuses to show up, he'll eventually be this year's Reddick. The losses will grow by the day, and he'll eventually show up. For Reddick, the Jets gave him a face-saving tweaking of the final year of his contract. The Bengals won't do that. By complaining about coach Zac Taylor's text message that missing mandatory minicamp comes with a fine, Hendrickson tipped his hand. He's already doing the math on what it will cost to stay away. So, basically, he can huff and puff all he wants, for now. When it's time to report for work or face significant fines, he knows what the Bengals will do. And Hendrickson doesn't seem to be willing to pay the price. That's one of the benefits of the Bengals' unique brand of dysfunction. In situations like this, it's not a bluff. If a player wants to stay home and increase the organization's profit margin along the way, they're fine with that. At some level, they might even prefer it.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bengals blinked for Joe Burrow
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow made his feelings known. And the Bengals have wisely blinked. A team with a longstanding reputation of being extremely careful with money has prioritized the pursuit of a silver trophy over the hoarding of its gold, thanks to the public pressure Burrow has placed on the team. His remarks, during the non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl and through a series of Super Bowl-week visits with the likes of SiriusXM NFL Radio, Breakfast Ball podcast and Pardon My Take, made his position clear. If the Eagles can pay more players than their quarterback, the Bengals can do it, too. Left unsaid was Burrow's unmistakable message: "Or else." The "or else" didn't need to be said. The Bengals lived it, 14 years ago. That's when former franchise quarterback Carson Palmer decided he'd had enough because, as he'd later explain, the organization was more concerned about making money than winning games. It wasn't enough for the Bengals to give Burrow a market-level deal. Burrow, like most great quarterbacks, wants to build his legacy through the accumulation of hardware. And with several high-end performers other than himself on the team, he wanted them to stick around. He mentioned, at one point, believing the team could, and should, keep receiver Ja'Marr Chase, receiver Tee Higgins, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, and tight end Mike Gesicki. Three have now signed multi-year deals. Hendrickson is the last man standing. Even though the Bengals have allowed Hendrickson to seek a trade, their goal (we're told) was to let Hendrickson see that other teams won't pay a 30-year-old pass rusher well over $30 million per year. The thinking is that he could eventually come back and accept Cincinnati's current offer, perhaps with a slight sweetener. Regardless, the Bengals faced a gigantic fork in the road. And despite their history of choosing the path of least expensiveness, they've opted this time around for the road less traveled. Which had been less traveled by the Bengals because the tolls are much higher. Few who have paid close attention to the league over the past 20 years expected it. It's dramatically out of character. And it happened because Burrow made it clear that he wanted it. What he didn't need to say was that, if they didn't do it, it was just a matter of time before he, like Palmer, would be choosing the road right out of Cincinnati.
NBC Sports
17-03-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Bengals blinked for Joe Burrow
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow made his feelings known. And the Bengals have wisely blinked. A team with a longstanding reputation of being extremely careful with money has prioritized the pursuit of a silver trophy over the hoarding of its gold, thanks to the public pressure Burrow has placed on the team. His remarks, during the non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl and through a series of Super Bowl-week visits with the likes of SiriusXM NFL Radio, Breakfast Ball podcast and Pardon My Take, made his position clear. If the Eagles can pay more players than their quarterback, the Bengals can do it, too. Left unsaid was Burrow's unmistakable message: 'Or else.' The 'or else' didn't need to be said. The Bengals lived it, 14 years ago. That's when former franchise quarterback Carson Palmer decided he'd had enough because, as he'd later explain, the organization was more concerned about making money than winning games. It wasn't enough for the Bengals to give Burrow a market-level deal. Burrow, like most great quarterbacks, wants to build his legacy through the accumulation of hardware. And with several high-end performers other than himself on the team, he wanted them to stick around. He mentioned, at one point, believing the team could, and should, keep receiver Ja'Marr Chase, receiver Tee Higgins, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, and tight end Mike Gesicki. Three have now signed multi-year deals. Hendrickson is the last man standing. Even though the Bengals have allowed Hendrickson to seek a trade, their goal (we're told) was to let Hendrickson see that other teams won't pay a 30-year-old pass rusher well over $30 million per year. The thinking is that he could eventually come back and accept Cincinnati's current offer, perhaps with a slight sweetener. Regardless, the Bengals faced a gigantic fork in the road. And despite their history of choosing the path of least expensiveness, they've opted this time around for the road less traveled. Which had been less traveled by the Bengals because the tolls are much higher. Few who have paid close attention to the league over the past 20 years expected it. It's dramatically out of character. And it happened because Burrow made it clear that he wanted it. What he didn't need to say was that, if they didn't do it, it was just a matter of time before he, like Palmer, would be choosing the road right out of Cincinnati.
NBC Sports
17-02-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
The franchise tag market could be DOA in 2025
The annual two-week window or using the franchise tag opens on Tuesday. This year, there might not be a single tag applied. The two most likely recipients aren't likely to be tagged. Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, who received the franchise tag in 2024 at $21.8 million, would be entitled by rule to a 20-percent raise in 2025. That's a one-year, fully-guaranteed salary of $26.18 million, with an identical cap number. The Bengals have never tagged a player twice. In fact, no player tagged by the Bengals has stayed with the team beyond the year of the tag. Only once did a tagged Bengals player sign a long-term deal. It happened in 1999, when receiver Carl Pickens inked a five-year contract in lieu of playing under the tag. The Bengals cut him a year later. The more likely possibility for Higgins would be a long-term deal. The franchise tag seems like a remote possibility, especially with receiver Ja'Marr Chase angling for $40 million per year, or perhaps more. There was talk late in the regular season of the Vikings tagging quarterback Sam Darnold. But coach Kevin O'Connell said in a Super Bowl-week visit to PFT Live that Darnold has earned the right to become a free agent. This implies that the team won't be paying Darnold roughly $40 million under the franchise tag for another season in Minnesota. Beyond those two, there's no obvious, no-brainer candidate. Based on a team-by-team analysis performed by the various folks who cover the various teams for it's possible that no one will be tagged. A no-tag offseason wouldn't be unprecedented. But it would be rare. Via only one prior season entailed no tags on a league wide basis — 1996.
