Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson Wants Either Extension Or Trade

Bengals TE Trey Hendrickson will enter the final year of his contract in 2025. When appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, he said he’d like an extension to stay in Cincinnati or to be traded to help the organization. 

“If it’s something we can agree on in terms, that would be great. Ideally, my wife and I would love to stay in Cincinnati,” Hendrickson said, via Ben Baby of ESPN. “If it’s something that helps the Bengals win the Super Bowl, if they get picks or anything like that, I want to help win a Super Bowl for Cincinnati, whether I’m there or not.”

In any case, Hendrickson wants to avoid prolonged negotiations and becoming a distraction during their offseason program. 

“During the season, when you’re talking about OTAs or camp, you don’t want to become a distraction for the team,” Hendrickson said. “Because, inevitably, the goal is to win a Super Bowl for Cincinnati.”

Cincinnati also has looming contract negotiations with WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Ideally, Hendrickson wants to be back with both players.  

“If we’re all there, that’s the ideal [situation],” Hendrickson said.

Bengals de facto GM Duke Tobin recently said they would like to get a deal done for Hendrickson, but it’d be difficult to have expensive players at every position. 

“We can’t have guys at the top of the payroll in every position, right?” Tobin said. “We’ll do what we can. We’ll do what we feel is right, and we will try to get Trey re-signed. It’s not giving anybody an extension. It’s agreeing with somebody on an extension.”

Tobin believes Hendrickson earned a pay raise, but it’s still unclear if they’ll be able to reach an agreement. 

“Has he earned a pay raise and a bump in an extension … he has,” Tobin said. “We’re cognizant of that, and we will give that to him. But whether we agree on what that looks like is, is what is to be determined.”

Hendrickson wanted a new deal from Cincinnati last offseason after believing he’d outplayed his current contract, which at the time had two years left on it. The veteran requested a trade before ultimately playing out the 2024 season and leading the NFL with 17.5 sacks. 

However, the Bengals have a lot of different priorities to juggle which could make it tricky for the two sides to agree on a number both are happy with.

Hendrickson, 30, was selected with the No. 103 overall pick by the Saints out of Florida Atlantic in 2017. He finished his four-year rookie contract worth $3,106,288, which included a signing bonus of $706,284.

Hendrickson then signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Bengals back in 2021 and went on to appear in the Super Bowl for the team. Cincinnati signed him to a one-year extension through 2025 in 2023. 

He’s due a base salary of $15.8 million in the final year of his contract in 2025. 

In 2024, Hendrickson appeared in all 17 games for the Bengals and recorded 46 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and six pass defenses.

We’ll have more on Hendrickson as the news is available.