The Trey Hendrickson saga is finally over. The Cincinnati Bengals paid up.
Hendrickson signed a four-year, $112 million contract extension with $60 million fully guaranteed, the team announced this week. The deal can max out at $120 million with incentives. It resolves the long-running contract dispute that had threatened to make Hendrickson available via trade.
This is the right outcome for everyone. The Bengals get to keep one of the best pass rushers in the NFL on a deal that fits the market. Hendrickson gets paid like the elite player he has been for the last three seasons. Cincinnati does not have to enter the year without their most disruptive defender.
The deal averages $28 million per year, which puts Hendrickson in the top eight at the edge rusher position. That is fair value for a guy who led the NFL in sacks two years ago and has been consistently among the top five pass rushers in the league throughout his Cincinnati tenure. He has earned every cent of it.
The negotiations were not pretty. Reports earlier this offseason described the relationship between Hendrickson and the Bengals front office as fractured. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said the situation had reached a point where Hendrickson appeared poised to leave Cincinnati, either through a trade demand or by hitting the open market. Ian Rapoport reported that the franchise tag was very much on the table.
Hendrickson missed most of the previous season due to injury, which complicated the negotiations. The Bengals were trying to figure out what to pay a 31-year-old pass rusher with an injury history. Hendrickson was trying to get paid like an All-Pro coming off a year where he could not produce because of factors outside his control.
The $60 million guarantee is the centerpiece of the deal. That is real money locked in regardless of what happens in years three and four. It also signals that the Bengals are committed to Hendrickson as a foundational piece of the defense, not just a one-year stopgap.
What Hendrickson does is critical for the Bengals defense. He generates pressure on early downs. He gets home in the fourth quarter. He commands offensive line attention that frees up the rest of the defensive front to make plays. He is the most important non-quarterback on the Bengals roster.
The Bengals defense without Hendrickson would have been one of the worst pass-rushing units in the league. Cincinnati does not have a credible replacement on the roster. The team has spent the last three drafts trying to find a complementary edge rusher and has not succeeded. Letting Hendrickson go would have meant rebuilding the entire defensive front.
The flip side is that the Bengals are now committed financially in a way that limits their flexibility elsewhere. Joe Burrow’s massive contract is already on the books. Ja’Marr Chase just got paid. Tee Higgins got paid. The cap math is getting tight, and the Bengals are going to have to make some hard choices on the offensive line and at running back next offseason.
The Steelers and Ravens are going to have to deal with Hendrickson twice a year for the foreseeable future. That is bad news for both divisional rivals. The AFC North has the best collection of edge rushers in the league, and Hendrickson now has the deal that locks him into the division for the rest of his prime years.
This was a deal that needed to happen for both sides. The Bengals could not afford to lose Hendrickson. Hendrickson could not afford to give up the security of a major extension at age 31. Both sides found the number that made sense and got the deal done before camp.
Cincinnati’s window is wide open. Hendrickson is going to be a big reason why.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
