Hendrickson requests trade from Bengals less than year after agreeing to pay increase
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The agent for Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson on Wednesday made it public that his client would like to be traded if he doesn't get another lucrative contract extension before the start of the 2024 season, and the biggest takeaway from that for everyone should be: So what?
Hendrickson's camp has absolutely no leverage other than the reported threat from his agent Harold Lewis that if the extension and commensurate pay raise aren't met Hendrickson may consider retiring.
There are 30.6 million reasons (his base salary in 2024 and 2025) that Hendrickson won't do that no matter how frugal he has been with his money, and if he actually follows through with the threat, then again... so what?
Teams shouldn't be held hostage to this sort of negotiating tactic. The Bengals especially don't deserve it from Hendrickson's camp after last year extending his orginal four-year, $60 million contract he signed in 2021 to take him through the 2025 season. That is worth an additional $21 million that included an $8 million signing bonus and increased his base salary by $5 million.
Hendrickson repaid that good faith gesture from the organization by breaking his own single-season franchise record for quarterback sacks with 17.5, but that doesn't mean the Bengals have to renegotiate again. They increased his pay already, he played well, so it's a win-win for both. Hendrickson signed a contract and he should honor it -- nothing more, nothing less.
If he wanted to bet on himself he should have balked at the extension and considered heading to free agency after the 2024 season. But he understandably wanted another year of security, the team wanted to have him under contract for at least another season, and a deal was done.
Sure, teams get out from under bad contracts all the time by releasing players when they still have money due in their base salary without having to pay that amount, but that is something that the players collectively bargained. If they don't like how contracts are structured, do something about it in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Teams also have to eat the prorated portion of signing bonuses if they do get out from under contracts early, so decisions like that are done only if a player has woefully underperformed or they are trying to free up salary cap space.
The Bengals were actually panned by many when they originally signed Hendrickson as a free agent after he had his only good season among four he played for the New Orleans Saints in 2020. It looked like a major gamble at the time, especially for the amount of money the Bengals threw at Hendrickson, but it proved to be the right move as he has become one of the NFL's top pass rushers and recorded 39.5 sacks and 71 quarterback hits in 48 regular-season games in his three Bengals seasons.
This is what he said last July after signing the extension:
"I want to stay a Bengal, and they gave me a tremendous opportunity two years ago. There was a lot of question marks around my name. They believed in me, and I still have the same desire to prove them right in the way they've invested in me. That's not something I take lightly. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. The way they handle things, the organization, the way they care about people, like I said earlier, so just staying in the building personally for me is important."
Hendrickson has been oft-injured, and to his credit played while hurt. Yet he will be 31 years old when the current contract expires, and the organization isn't keen on signing players in their 30s, especially to lucrative deals.
The plan all along has likely been to let him walk after the current contract expires, and they began to fill the pipeline for his replacement when they selected defensive end Myles Murphy in the first round of last year's NFL Draft.
His threat (veiled or otherwise) shouldn't have the Bengals changing their draft strategy this year. If he plays, then that's great. However, if he doesn't, it's next man up.
It's why when the news broke the only reaction to have was simply: So what?
