The Cincinnati Bengals have yet to find a solution to the Trey Hendrickson contract situation. With the 2025 NFL season right around the corner, it’s uncertain whether the Bengals will have the veteran coming off back-to-back 17.5 sack seasons.
Hendrickson has made it clear to Cincinnati he won’t play this season without contract security. At 30 years old and turning 31 in December, he knows an injury could seriously hurt his value in free agency — especially with this likely being his last shot at a big deal.
NFL Insider Ian Rapoport was on the NFL Network and shared the latest regarding Hendrickson and where the player stands on an extension with the Bengals.
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“It’s really not just about the overall dollars that the Bengals have offered Trey Hendrickson,” Rapoport said. “If it was just about the base money, then this would probably be done already. He wants guaranteed money into next year and beyond. That is what a lot of the really good pass rusher contracts have featured. That’s what T. J. Watt’s contract featured. Not saying that Trey Hendrickson is going to get the contract that T. J. Watt got, but his deal does have guarantees deep into the deal.
“That seems to be where Hendrickson wants, and there’s a couple of different ways this could go… They could figure out a way to get this done in a way that all sides are happy, or they could simply not, and Hendrickson could go out, play on the 16 this year, then be a free agent next year and end this whole bandaid-upon-bandaid-upon-bandaid situation.”
From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: The #Bengals and NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson are in negotiations and while there was optimism from owner Mike Brown today, they aren’t there yet. pic.twitter.com/jcTZEnd5rI
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 21, 2025
Cincinnati has Super Bowl aspirations, and with their offensive core locked up for the foreseeable future, the Bengals have run into trouble when it comes to contracts of two key players on defense, Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart.
The Bengals are running out of time to sort these situations out or else they could be playing Week 1 without two players who are important to getting to the quarterback.
