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Details of Trey Hendrickson's New Contract With Bengals Revealed
The Bengals got their last duck in a row for the 2025 regular season on Monday by finally giving Trey Hendrickson a new deal. The All-Pro defender has been engaged in a months-long contract holdout in an effort to secure a raise after he led the NFL in sacks in 2024. With less than two weeks before the upcoming season kicks off Hendrickson got what he wanted, and on Tuesday Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reported the details of the new agreement.
Per Breer, Hendrickson's new deal is worth $29 million in base pay. The pass-rusher can earn an extra $1 million in incentives if he plays 60% of the defensive snaps and Cincinnati makes the playoffs. Perhaps most relevantly the deal allows for the Bengals to franchise tag Hendrickson next offseason if they so choose.
It appears to be a true middle ground for both sides. The Bengals clearly would've preferred Hendrickson played out his contract as it was previously agreed to and didn't want to give him an extension. Hendrickson wanted more guaranteed money in the form of a new long-term deal that offered financial security. With the agreement the two sides reached on Monday Hendrickson gets the additional guaranteed money he was searching for, and Cincinnati doesn't have to decide whether to commit to the 30-year-old long-term until after this season.
What happens then will be quite interesting. This wasn't the first time Hendrickson has clashed with the team over his compensation so he may be interested in testing the open market next offseason. But the Bengals' unwillingness to trade him when things got ugly this offseason reflects his value to the team's defense and their larger title hopes.
But that is a problem for 2026. For 2025 the Bengals have their star pass rusher ready to suit up.
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Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.