After paying its two top receivers last month, the Cincinnati Bengals might be running into a problem. The team has reached an impasse with contract talks for Pro Bowl defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who is starting to take his frustration public.
Hendrickson went on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday to discuss stalled talks in his contract, and addressing comments from Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn. At the NFL’s annual meeting on Tuesday, Blackburn implied that Hendrickson had been the reason that talks had stalled because he was asking for more money.
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Hendrickson said on Wednesday that he initially hoped that Blackburn’s comments, which were published on April 1, was an April Fools’ Day joke.
“That was a little disappointing, ’cause communication has been poor over the last couple of months,” Hendrickson said, adding that the team had not directly talked to his agent and that the lack of communication had been “frustrating.”
Hendrickson currently has a year remaining on his contract, and is due $15.8 million in base salary. The defensive end said Wednesday that the Bengals have told him that they want to work out a deal this year — something that the team has said publicly as well, although less forcefully than they did about Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins ahead of their historic contracts.
On Wednesday, Hendrickson implied that he wasn’t in the loop on the deals that Cincinnati signed with its top receivers. “When it comes to my situation, it would’ve been nice to know,” he said, clarifying that he didn’t “want to take anything away from” Chase and Higgins.
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The defensive end added that he wasn’t looking to break records with his contract, saying that he and his wife “try to be as humble as possible.”
“We don’t have any desires of being highest-paid, or first in line. We try to be as patient as possible,” Hendrickson said.
On Tuesday, Blackburn had said in her state of the franchise address that the Bengals were in the process of reaching a deal with the defensive end.
“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Blackburn said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he’s not, you know, that’s what holds it up sometimes. So, you know, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him. He’s been a great player. We’re happy to have him. And so maybe we’ll find a way to get something to work. We’re just gonna see where it goes.”
On Wednesday, though Hendrickson said that there’s an “open line of communication” to him and his agent.
“They’re more than welcome to call me. I’ve had (the) same cell phone number since high school,” he said. “So if they have anything they’d like to discuss, we’ve been nothing but willing to listen.”
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The Bengals also gave Hendrickson permission to explore a trade last month, although nothing has seemed to materialize on that front.
“I’ve been open and transparent about, however it look for me in Cincinnati, or not, I want the Bengals to benefit from that,” Hendrickson said.
The four-time Pro Bowler, who has spent the past four years with the Bengals, was clear that he wanted to stay in Cincinnati if he could, but that he had limits on what kind of deal he was willing to sign.
“I don’t think I wanna play for incentives that’ll be out of my control, and I don’t think I wanna play for short-term contract and see where it goes,” Hendrickson said.
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Hendrickson said that he has been asking for a long-term contract with guaranteed money for the past three years. “To read what I read yesterday was confusing. I would’ve been willing to sign three years ago, two years ago and this year,” he said.
Given the delay, Hendrickson said that he was treating his new deal like real estate. “House values have gone up,” he said. “It’s the cost of living.”
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