The Cincinnati Bengals and Trey Hendrickson still don’t have a contract done.
He’s at practice each day. He’s helping coach up first-round pick Shemar Stewart. But he’s not in uniform, not part of team drills, not lined up physically with his defensive teammates to prepare for the season.
Hendrickson has made it clear he won’t play for the $16 million contract he’s currently under this season.
Coming off consecutive seasons with 17.5 sacks, Hendrickson is worth at least double that in an open marketplace.
Obviously, it’s not quite an open market. He is under that contract. At this point, it’s Hendrickson just trying to get Cincinnati to cave first, or trade him.
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The situation isn’t good, though, and it caused ESPN’s Louis Riddick to rant about it on Get Up on Wednesday.
Riddick’s main point: Not getting deals like this done contributes to wasting the prime of franchise quarterback Joe Burrow.
“There’s no doubt that the organization right now is failing to build a strong 53-man roster that can compete with the elite teams in the NFL, it’s just as simple as that,” Riddick said. “And you’re gonna wind up regretting it when it’s all said and done if they don’t get this defense rolling along and get their premium players signed to contracts, not being engaged in long, protracted contract holdouts.”
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Burrow is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, no question. He’s got top-notch receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and a great running back in Chase Brown.
Last season, the Bengals’ defense wasn’t good enough to allow an MVP-level campaign from Burrow to get them to the playoffs, and that was with Hendrickson.
Cincinnati can’t afford to have Hendrickson on the sideline when Week 1 rolls around. He’s too important to their hopes of the ultimate goal of a Super Bowl.
The last thing they can let happen is to waste Burrow’s prime. A franchise quarterback doesn’t come around all the time. The Bengals have to make the most of it, and they’ll need Hendrickson to do that.
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