Hendrickson’s new contract gives Bengals non permanent reduction
The contract saga between Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengals is lastly over. At the least till the subsequent offseason.
On Monday, the Bengals and their disgruntled star defensive finish agreed to a revised 2025 contract, which pays Hendrickson a further $14 million from the preliminary $16M he was owed this season.
The $30M contract places Hendrickson, 30, extra according to the highest earners at his place, though it sits effectively beneath the extensions Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt signed earlier this yr that pay his AFC North edge-rushing friends north of $40M yearly.
Since signing with the Bengals in 2021 free company, Hendrickson has 57 sacks, the third most within the NFL, solely trailing Watt (58.5) and Garrett (60).
Whereas the Bengals ought to rejoice getting their greatest defensive participant again in time for the beginning of the common season, the get together might be short-lived.
The revised contract would not include any added years, setting Hendrickson as much as turn into an unrestricted free agent in March 2026. Whereas he might stay in Cincinnati by 2025, his one-year deal makes it much less possible.
If Hendrickson has one other monster double-digit sack season, he’ll seemingly worth himself out of the Bengals’ vary. And if he places up lesser numbers, Cincinnati would have much less incentive to wish to signal a participant producing diminishing returns.
Rookie first-round decide Shemar Stewart, who ended his personal contract dispute in late July, might make an eventual breakup much less painful with a robust season. Myles Murphy, a 2023 first-rounder, can also be kicking round. However after two subpar seasons, it is much less seemingly he’ll be part of the Bengals’ future plans.
Hendrickson’s revised contract offers Cincinnati with instant reduction, but something past 2025 is unsure. The Bengals averted catastrophe by ending Hendrickson’s hold-in, however it may not be lengthy till they run into one other.
