Hendrickson’s McAfee Appearance To Fire Back at Bengals Not His Best Move, Unless There’s an Ulterior Motive

CINCINNATI – If Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson thought going on the Pat McAfee Show to vent about the progress of contract negotiations was going to spur the team in action, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

It’ll have as much impact as his trade request did last April, when Hendrickson’s agent floated retirement as an option if a trade or new deal wasn’t forthcoming.

The Bengals didn’t trade Hendrickson, nor did they give him a new contract.

Ultimatums don’t play in the Cincinnati front office.

Neither do public nudgings.

“Communication has been poor over the last couple of months,” Hendrickson said on the show. “That's something I hold in high regard. They have not communicated with my agent directly. It's been something that's been a little bit frustrating.”

It’s unclear when Hendrickson, who rarely talks to the media, booked his slot on the McAfee show.

But given that his appearance came less than 24 hours after Bengals executive vice president Kate Blackburn’s comments about the Hendrickson negotiations, it’s fair to assume Hendrickson and his agent decided to go on a show with 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube) to offer an instant rebuttal.

“He should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at,” Blackburn said Tuesday while speaking to reporters at the NFL League Meetings in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“Some of it is on him to be happy at some point,” Blackburn continued. “And if he's not, that's what holds it up sometimes. It takes him to say ‘yes’ to something. “We have all the respect in the world for him. He's been a great player. We're happy to have him. And so maybe we'll find a way to get something to work. We're just gonna see where it goes.”

If Hendrickson thought taking his issues with the negotiations to the media was going to take it where he wants it to go, it’s another big miscalculation.

Joe Burrow and the front office kept everything private while negotiating an extension.

The same was mostly true with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins over the last two seasons.

What do all three of those negotiations have in common?

They got done, and each player was happy with the outcome.

While Burrow was vocal about the need to re-sign Higgins and Chase, it never devolved into back-and-forth finger pointing in the media the way the Hendrickson negotiations have, and this could just be getting started.

And the more that’s said, the more the Bengals will dig in.

That’s not to say Hendrickson has hurt his chances of staying in Cincinnati. He eventually may get a new deal from the Bengals.

But taking his gripe public isn’t going to speed up the process. And it sure isn’t going to make the Bengals move off whatever offer they’re currently sitting on.

We’ve seen this too many times over the years.

Mike Brown doesn’t blink.

That shouldn’t be news to Hendrickson and his agent.

Perhaps they viewed Blackburn’s comments as a “negotiating through the media” ploy, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

But Blackburn’s comments came as part of a 30-minute annual interview she does at the league meetings. They weren't a case of “gather around everyone; I’ve got something to say.”

That said, they still were ill-advised if the end goal is getting something done that makes everyone happy.

Maybe Hendrickson’s goal by going public wasn’t simply to fire back or kickstart negotiations, but rather to paint himself as disgruntled and aggrieved superstar in an attempt to send a message not to the Bengals, but to the other 31 front offices.

The Bengals allowed him to seek trade options last month, an exploration that proved fruitless.

Rather than calling all 31 teams separately to rekindle the idea, the McAfee appearance could have been Hendrickson and his agent’s way of reminding the rest of the league he could have a greater instant impact on their team than any acquisition they make in the draft.

The one thing it’s definitely not going to do is spur any increase in urgency or currency when it comes to the Cincinnati front office.

Hendrickson is under contract. The Bengals have all the leverage.

Taking his gripe public only gives them more.

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