John Sheeran talks about the latest reports surrounding the Cincinnati Bengals' efforts to secure a long-term contract extension with EDGE Trey Hendrickson, and an interesting wrinkle that has entered the conversation.
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00:00A recent report indicates that the Bengals have a very unique motivation in getting a
00:04Trey Hendrickson contract extension done, and in this video, I'll explain how that
00:08could actually help them get this across the goal line.
00:13Hi again Bengals fans, John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here, and the Bengals
00:18shouldn't need any more motivation to get Trey Hendrickson's contract situation sorted
00:23out.
00:24This is not necessarily complicated, I understand that Hendrickson is 30, going to be 31 in
00:29December, I understand that there is a fear that he could fall off at any minute, I totally
00:33get that, I understand that's why they haven't paid him yet, I understand that whatever his
00:37asking price is, the Bengals haven't quite matched yet.
00:41But it is still 100% in Cincinnati's best interest to pay him, extend him, instead of
00:46trading him for like a second or third round pick, or a player who's not going to be nearly
00:51as good as him over the next year or two.
00:53Because Hendrickson is worth so much more than just the $16 million in cash he's set
00:57to earn this year, the Bengals recognize that, Hendrickson himself recognizes that,
01:02and there's every reason to believe that if he doesn't get that, then he will make Cincinnati's
01:06life extremely hard for the duration of this offseason.
01:09The Bengals really shouldn't need any more motivation beyond that, but there just might
01:12be some in existence here.
01:14The latest report of what seems to be going on between the Bengals and Hendrickson comes
01:17from NFL media's Ian Rapoport, who appeared on the Pat McAfee show Monday afternoon, and
01:21I found it to be very interesting because this report was clearly not coming from Hendrickson's
01:26side of the negotiations, but rather than what the Bengals are going through right now.
01:30Because a lot of the talk around the Bengals over the last week has been about them paying
01:33both Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, and outside of the criticism beyond paying two receivers
01:38that much money, there was a lot of surprise that the team was able to work out two monumental
01:42extensions not just in the same offseason, but in the same day, really.
01:46And how there's this perception that's been forming over the past few years that the Bengals
01:49are prone to letting their best players leave the building.
01:52And according to Rapoport, he seems to believe that the Bengals hear this and are annoyed
01:56by this.
01:57Quite literally.
01:58Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee show, quote, the Bengals do not like letting good players
02:01leave the building, even if it's for a huge draft pick.
02:04They don't like it.
02:05They'd like to draft, develop, sign their own guys, and I think they get annoyed that
02:08people think that they don't sign their guys.
02:11Rapoport continued to confirm that the Bengals are still talking and still trying to work
02:14out this deal and said, quote, and I know they would like to keep him in the building.
02:18They would like to pay him, and I think they would like people to stop saying, why don't
02:22the Bengals pay their guys?
02:24Because they do.
02:25And I think getting Hendrickson done at a value that makes sense for both sides will
02:28be a great way for the Bengals to be like, see?
02:31And again, this is just so fascinating to me because it seems like the Bengals are getting
02:35bullied into doing this.
02:37Like ignore the fact that it's still the proper decision to actually pay one of your best
02:41players while he's still in the prime of his career.
02:43No, the Bengals are trying to do this because everyone thinks that they won't.
02:47Now is this just sensationalized information that's been leaked to a national reporter
02:52to make the team look like the good guys in this situation?
02:55Very possible, right?
02:56Time and time again, players' agents are feeding information to guys like Rapoport to make
03:01the team look like they're in the bad situation, and I think that's been happening quite frequently
03:05with this situation, considering the fact that Hendrickson's representation has been
03:09bullied and bodied by the Bengals for the past two years, and they're just trying to
03:13get a win here.
03:15Communications both publicly and privately around the Bengals this offseason has been
03:18to try and get all three of these deals done, Chase, Higgins, Hendrickson, probably in the
03:24order that is progressing right now.
03:26So I don't think that this is something new or recent that the Bengals are just looking
03:29at from the outside and saying, hey, no one thinks we can do this.
03:33Let's go ahead and do it.
03:34I still think that the plan from the get-go was to approach Hendrickson and get something
03:37done, but maybe this has been all lying under the surface this entire time because this
03:41goes back to before just this year, right?
03:43The Bengals lost so many players specifically on the defensive side of the ball that led
03:47to the roster getting to where it is right now.
03:49And even long before that, Andrew Whitworth, Kevin Zeidler, both left in the same offseason
03:53leading to the offensive line collapse that's been the case for the better part of the last
03:57eight years.
03:58The Bengals used to be entirely built around draft, develop, and retain when they could
04:03get their best players to take contracts that they agreed to.
04:06But as soon as other teams started throwing guaranteed money at a lot higher rate compared
04:10to the Bengals, that's when things started to change.
04:13And if they want to get Hendrickson done, they're going to have to include quite a bit
04:16of guaranteed money, at least in the form of rolling guarantees.
04:19So this isn't exactly the motivation that I would need in order to pay one of my best
04:23players, but if it does get the Bengals across the finish line, I think that's all Bengals
04:27fans can ask for at this point.