30-07-2025
Why Trey Hendrickson may not get what he wants from the Bengals
Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz and senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein discuss the ongoing contract negotiations between Cincinnati and its star pass rusher - and whether it is likely that he will receive the multi-year guarantees that teammates Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase received in their most recent deals. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
The Bengals for a long time never gave multi-year guarantees in their contracts.
They changed that for quarterback Joe Burrow, and then they changed that for receiver Jamar Chase as well.
If it was just Joe Burrow, you could say, we don't do this; the quarterback's the exception.
But then you do with Jamar, and Trey Hendrickson is like, well, then I want guarantees after the first year.
Jamar got them.
But there is a case to be made, and I would argue the Beals are making it that Jamar Chase is in the prime of his career, and he is the best at his position.
They do not believe that Trey Hendrickson at 31 is in the prime of his career, nor that he's the best at his position.
Now, clearly his sack numbers are fantastic.
His run game is not necessarily to the level of his pass defense, but it's there, and I'm curious, but it's like, what do you think when you think about what's fair?
And this is not a second contract; this is his third.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's a hot take to say that Trey isn't the best rusher in the NFL, right?
Like, he's in that tier of upper echelon.
He's a guy that really helps this team.
Like, he's a guy that wants to go out and get paid at his age.
Of course, he wants to go get the money that sacks warrant, for sure.
But if you were starting a team from scratch today and you had your choice of any defensive player, any, any rusher, are we really gonna take Trey Hendrickson over?
TJ Watt or Miles Garrett or Max Crosby?
No, I, I think the answer to that is no across the board, you know, it's not a hot take to say you're not Jamar Chase.
Like, you're talking about somebody young that can give years to the organization and somebody that, frankly, you, you have no choice if you're the Bengals, but to reward with a massive contract, get ahead of the market.
You ain't getting ahead of anything with Trey at this point.
Like, this is gonna be his last big payday.
So, I, I actually don't have a hard time with the Bengals standing firm on this.
I do think there's some fairness in the conversation of, hey, they did go out and take care of Jamar.
They did go out and take care of Joe.
They have gone out and taken care of it.
Like, at some point, this conversation about the Bengals being cheap to me is sort of like what I say about Jerry Jones all the time.
We got to stop judging him based on who he was in the 90s.
Like, this version of the Bengals has put a ton of guaranteed money in escrow sitting around for some superstar players.
So it isn't that to me.
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