After months of talks, Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengals have finally reached a deal. The Bengals announced Monday they've agreed on a new deal with Hendrickson that will reportedly give him a $14 million raise on his existing contract, per multiple reports.
The agreement ends a months-long saga that resulted in multiple trade explorations and a hold-in through most of training camp. The star defensive end will now stay with Cincinnati through the 2025 season.
Hendrickson is on the final year of his contract, and was set to make $15.8 million in base salary. The new agreement will boost his salary to $30 million, making him one of the highest-paid defenders in 2025.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]
One of the biggest holdups in contract negotiations was guaranteed money, with Hendrickson saying last week that the Bengals were willing to guarantee money through the rest of the season, but not past that. A re-worked deal for the this season will give Hendrickson the payday he wants, and resolves the issue in the short term before the two revisit a longer-term deal in the offseason.
Bengals, Hendrickson reach an agreement after months of negotiations
It's been a very long road to get to this point, as Hendrickson and Cincinnati have been caught in a stalemate for months. As long ago as March, the veteran defender was granted permission to seek a trade, though no deal ended up materializing.
In May, Hendrickson said that he would not play this season under his current deal, saying that he had been promised a larger contract if he "continued to play at a high level." Hendrickson had the best season of his career in 2024, recording a career-high 33 solo tackles and 19 tackles for loss, as well as a career-high-tying, and league-leading, 17.5 sacks.
Hendrickson was initially a holdout for training camp, but eventually reported to camp a week later. After reporting, he told reporters that contract talks had remained "exactly the same" despite the weeks of attempting to come to an agreement.
Hendrickson sat out of all three of the Bengals' preseason games as part of a hold-in. Cincinnati only won one of those games, and struggled on defense. The team's third and final preseason game was a decisive 41-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, with the Colts racking up 472 total yards and 26 first downs in the win.
Last week, six months after that initial trade request, the Bengals were once again exploring trade options for Hendrickson as contract talks stalled again.
But, perhaps surprisingly, Hendrickson and the Bengals resumed negotiations on Monday. NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported Monday morning that the two sides were renewing talks, with the idea of increasing Hendrickson's pay this season while still letting the contract expire at the end of the year.
Cincinnati will now have a temporary delay on re-signing its star defensive end, and will have to contend with some highly paid competition. In July, Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt signed a record three-year, $123 million extension; in March, the Las Vegas Raiders and Maxx Crosby agreed to a three-year, $106.5 million deal, while Myles Garrett signed an extension with the Cleveland Browns that gives him $40 million per year.
Hendrickson will earn $30 million this year, which, while lucrative, is far less than Watt, Garrett, and other top players in the position. In other words, expect him to come back next year hoping for more.
Comments