Trey Hendrickson Breakdown: Did Bengals 'Bungle' Negotiations or is Star Pass Rusher Being Unreasonable?

CINCINNATI — There are rumors that the Bengals made Trey Hendrickson a $30+ million offer, before giving him permission to test his market.

Bengals fans shouldn't buy it.

If the Bengals made Hendrickson a $30-$32 million offer, they wouldn't let him test the market. They wouldn't have given him permission to seek a trade.

This isn't rocket science, although some NFL insiders will pretend that it is.

What We're Hearing

The Bengals made Hendrickson's camp multiple offers, none of which were in the $30+ million range, sources say.

Talks didn't get far enough to get to small details. Bottom line: they never got close to a long-term extension.

The All-Pro pass rusher wants to stay in Cincinnati long-term. He also wants to get paid what he's worth.

It would be foolish for anyone to think that Hendrickson would turn down a $30+ million per year offer from the Bengals.

Hendrickson traveled to Cincinnati, met with Bengals' brass and asked for permission to seek a trade for a reason. The sides were far apart.

If the Bengals valued Hendrickson enough to offer him a multi-year contract worth $30+ million, then he probably would've signed by now.

What's Next?

Hendrickson could very well get a contract for more than $32 million per year now that he has teams competing for his services.

The Colts, Cardinals, Commanders, Falcons and Packers are five of the many teams reportedly interested in the 30-year-old.

The Bengals wouldn't have opened up that can of worms if they were close to a deal with Hendrickson. And spoiler alert: a multi-year deal worth $30-$32 million per season wouldn't have just been "close," it likely would've gotten it done and kept the star pass rusher in Cincinnati.

Instead, the Bengals granted Hendrickson permission to seek a trade. They knew his price was likely going up the moment they gave him the opportunity to test his market.

Hendrickson is the top pass rusher available. This idea that the Bengals made him a $30+ million offer and are now letting him test the market is nonsense.

Why would any franchise do that?

They would've stood their ground and said "Trey, this is a great offer. No, you can't talk to other teams. We want you in Cincinnati."

Hendrickson is going to get some strong offers on the market. It's highly unlikely that the Bengals will keep him in 2025.

The only scenario where that realistically happens is if they see the league-wide interest in Hendrickson and decide to make him a $30-$32 million offer to keep him in town after all of the interest he received from other teams.

He's still under contract and they could change their minds—but that feels unlikely.

The process has started and it'll likely end with Hendrickson on another team in 2025 and beyond.

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