Trey Hendrickson Gave Manti Te'o Brutally Honest Take on Bengals’ Low Contract Offers

The Bengals star called the team's offers "atrociously low" to Te'o.

Trey Hendrickson is holding out of Bengals training camp. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Trey Hendrickson contract situation has once again come to the forefront this offseason for the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite the optimism projected by owner Mike Brown and director of player personnel Duke Tobin on Monday, the team has yet to find an agreement on the contract extension Hendrickson has been openly seeking since the 2024 season ended. As a result, the sack artist officially declared his intention to hold out of training camp on Tuesday.

Hendrickson also made it public what he thinks of the Bengals' offers thus far. Appearing on Good Morning Football, former Notre Dame star and current NFL analyst Manti Te'o revealed Hendrickson had spoken to him about the negotiation and did not have nice things to say about what Cincy has put on the table.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Te'o said on Tuesday morning's GMFB that Hendrickson called the Bengals' offers "atrociously, atrociously low," especially in regards to the amount of guaranteed money offered. Hendrickson is owed $15.8 million in base salary for the 2025 season.

Obviously that doesn't seem to reflect positive negotiations as the Bengals begin training camp. Which is not ideal. Hendrickson is both the best and most important defensive player in Cincinnati; he totaled 17.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons and was named a first-team All-Pro in 2024. All the money the franchise invested into the core of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins will be for naught if the defense can't hold up its end of the bargain every Sunday.

There is a lot of time before the season kicks off in September for the issue to get resolved. But from the information Te'o put out into the world on Tuesday it seems the two sides remain quite far apart in negotiations.

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