John Sheeran talks about the latest developments in the Trey Hendrickson contract negotiations, as Bengals EVP Katie Blackburn made some questionable comments about Hendrickson at the NFL meetings earlier this week.
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00:00There is a literal he said she said situation that the Bengals are dealing with and in this video
00:04I'm gonna explain exactly what Trey Hendrickson is thinking right now
00:11Hi again Bengals fans John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here bringing you another edition of the saga known as
00:18Trey Hendrickson's contract extension on the surface this one kind of looks like a doozy
00:22But I think the deeper that you go into it and look at it with the finer details
00:25I think the less impactful it's actually gonna end up being for those who need an update because we haven't really talked about this and
00:30I don't know like a week Trey Hendrickson is looking for a new contract. He is under contract for just this season
00:35It's technically a 21 million dollar extension, even though he's only gonna make 16 million dollars in cash
00:40Obviously Trey Hendrickson almost one defensive player of the year. He deserves more than that
00:45He's looking for more than that. The Bengals are willing to give him more than that
00:48Now how much more is obviously the cause of this whole conflict now?
00:52There's something that everyone needs to understand about what's happening here
00:55And it's that when the Bengals are handling negotiations like this. They do not want details to be released into the public
01:01They do not want to be talking about it to reporters. They don't want the players to be talking about to reporters
01:06They want to keep things completely
01:08Internal between those four walls that they're doing all this business at and in past years when things have been like that when they've been
01:13Kept in secrecy things end up working out for both the player and the team
01:17But as soon as things start to become public whether the players talking to the press or a
01:21Representative from the team is talking about it to the press and there's details that are getting out there about what's actually going on
01:27Very rarely do good things end up happening from that and personally the reason why I believe this to be the case
01:32Is that the Bengals do not communicate very well in the eyes of you and me just the average person
01:36So in Katie Blackburn the executive vice president of the team who essentially runs the Bengals at this point when she takes her annual turn
01:43Talking to the media for about an hour down at the annual league meetings talking about a plethora of different topics and Trey Hendrickson comes
01:49Up, that's when things start to break down
01:51Okay
01:52Maybe that's a slight exaggeration
01:53But the words that she used talking about the subject did not come off as friendly because when Blackburn was asked about Hendrickson and where
01:59Things stand in negotiations. She said quote
02:01I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy yet
02:04I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point and if he's not, you know
02:08That's what holds it up sometimes
02:09So it takes him to say yes to something and also we have all the respect in the world for him
02:14He's been a great player. We're happy to have him. And so maybe we'll find a way to get something to work
02:18We're just gonna see where it goes
02:19Now if a player hasn't accepted whatever contract offer you've offered him and then you say into a microphone that you know
02:26Is gonna be on the record. He should be happy at the offer that he has
02:30It's probably not the best way to go about this when you're talking about it from a public relations standpoint
02:34But in reality, this is kind of how the Bengals have always communicated
02:38Very rarely do we see it publicized like this because very rarely do the powers that be actually speak publicly
02:43But this is just kind of how their mind works
02:44They always want to be in the position of power and talk in a position of power
02:48But it's completely understandable that Trey Hendrickson would hear that and would take some offense to it
02:53Which he rightfully did because in a miraculous coincidence Trey Hendrickson appeared on the Pat McAfee show just a day later
02:59After Blackburn's comments became public and when asked about what Blackburn said
03:03He said quote that was a little disappointing because communication has been poor over the last couple of months
03:08That's something that I hold in high regard. They have not communicated with my agent directly
03:13It's been something that's been a little bit frustrating
03:15But again, this is the business of it now Hendrickson went on to say a bunch of other things about the situation
03:20He's very clearly frustrated about how everything is going down
03:23but I think there's a reason as to why he took the public stage right after
03:27Katie Blackburn did because as soon as basically the highest power within the Bengals organization
03:32Went public talking about how the negotiations are going and just any sort of detail regarding what is happening
03:38He took it upon himself to go back into the public forum
03:41Remember, this is not the first time he's talked about this publicly
03:43He went on the McAfee show during the Super Bowl week at Radio Row
03:46I think there was another program where he was talking about it as well
03:49And he's doing this to get you on his side
03:51And I think for the most part he has a lot of valid points
03:54But he wants you on his side because he doesn't have an ounce of leverage in this like it sucks. It really does
04:00I think there are ways to just get past this and create an amicable solution
04:04But that's not how the Bengals want to take this and unfortunately, they have all the power here
04:08So Trey can complain to Pat McAfee
04:10However much he wants and he can get everyone in the fan base and around the NFL
04:14To take his side about how the Bengals are being cruel and unusual towards him
04:17But at the end of the day the Bengals hold his contract rights
04:20They don't have to trade him if they don't want to they don't have to pay him
04:23If they don't want to regarding a new extension and as smart as it would be to pay Trey Hendrickson what he's worth and pay it
04:28As soon as possible
04:30They have the power to make him accept whatever contract that they want because he realizes that he can hold out this season
04:36He can't enter free agency at 31 years old after not playing out the 2025 season
04:41He knows that this is his best chance at getting one last payday one last contract with multiple years with guaranteed money on it
04:49And I don't know what the Bengals have or haven't offered him in regards to those details
04:53But he knows that this is the best chance for him to get that and airing out this dirty laundry is in his mind
04:58The only way that he can nudge them in that direction
05:01and the reason why his efforts here are probably not going to pay off the way that he wants them to
05:05Is because the Bengals do not care one iota about looking like the villain
05:10Yeah, they'll take victory laps around talking heads when they pay players that no one expects them to pay
05:14Or they win games that no one expects them to win
05:16But when it comes to either rule changes or contract standoffs, they always stay on the ground
05:22So do I think that the events of this week is going to impact what kind of offer Trey gets?
05:26Or what kind of timetable we're looking at about when an extension could be reached?
05:30No, I don't think so
05:31I think Trey realizes the situation that he's in and he didn't want to rely on an agent who's clearly
05:36Not done very good work for him in the past couple of years and he took it upon himself to try to get himself
05:41Out of this mess, but unfortunately he's stuck in it and I think he knows it