The Bengals Might Have NEW Motivation To Extend Trey Hendrickson...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran talks about the latest reports surrounding the Cincinnati Bengals' efforts to secure a long-term contract extension with EDGE Trey Hendrickson, and an interesting wrinkle that has entered the conversation.

Transcript

00:00A recent report indicates that the Bengals have a very unique motivation in getting a

00:04Trey Hendrickson contract extension done, and in this video, I'll explain how that

00:08could actually help them get this across the goal line.

00:13Hi again Bengals fans, John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here, and the Bengals

00:18shouldn't need any more motivation to get Trey Hendrickson's contract situation sorted

00:23out.

00:24This is not necessarily complicated, I understand that Hendrickson is 30, going to be 31 in

00:29December, I understand that there is a fear that he could fall off at any minute, I totally

00:33get that, I understand that's why they haven't paid him yet, I understand that whatever his

00:37asking price is, the Bengals haven't quite matched yet.

00:41But it is still 100% in Cincinnati's best interest to pay him, extend him, instead of

00:46trading him for like a second or third round pick, or a player who's not going to be nearly

00:51as good as him over the next year or two.

00:53Because Hendrickson is worth so much more than just the $16 million in cash he's set

00:57to earn this year, the Bengals recognize that, Hendrickson himself recognizes that,

01:02and there's every reason to believe that if he doesn't get that, then he will make Cincinnati's

01:06life extremely hard for the duration of this offseason.

01:09The Bengals really shouldn't need any more motivation beyond that, but there just might

01:12be some in existence here.

01:14The latest report of what seems to be going on between the Bengals and Hendrickson comes

01:17from NFL media's Ian Rapoport, who appeared on the Pat McAfee show Monday afternoon, and

01:21I found it to be very interesting because this report was clearly not coming from Hendrickson's

01:26side of the negotiations, but rather than what the Bengals are going through right now.

01:30Because a lot of the talk around the Bengals over the last week has been about them paying

01:33both Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, and outside of the criticism beyond paying two receivers

01:38that much money, there was a lot of surprise that the team was able to work out two monumental

01:42extensions not just in the same offseason, but in the same day, really.

01:46And how there's this perception that's been forming over the past few years that the Bengals

01:49are prone to letting their best players leave the building.

01:52And according to Rapoport, he seems to believe that the Bengals hear this and are annoyed

01:56by this.

01:57Quite literally.

01:58Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee show, quote, the Bengals do not like letting good players

02:01leave the building, even if it's for a huge draft pick.

02:04They don't like it.

02:05They'd like to draft, develop, sign their own guys, and I think they get annoyed that

02:08people think that they don't sign their guys.

02:11Rapoport continued to confirm that the Bengals are still talking and still trying to work

02:14out this deal and said, quote, and I know they would like to keep him in the building.

02:18They would like to pay him, and I think they would like people to stop saying, why don't

02:22the Bengals pay their guys?

02:24Because they do.

02:25And I think getting Hendrickson done at a value that makes sense for both sides will

02:28be a great way for the Bengals to be like, see?

02:31And again, this is just so fascinating to me because it seems like the Bengals are getting

02:35bullied into doing this.

02:37Like ignore the fact that it's still the proper decision to actually pay one of your best

02:41players while he's still in the prime of his career.

02:43No, the Bengals are trying to do this because everyone thinks that they won't.

02:47Now is this just sensationalized information that's been leaked to a national reporter

02:52to make the team look like the good guys in this situation?

02:55Very possible, right?

02:56Time and time again, players' agents are feeding information to guys like Rapoport to make

03:01the team look like they're in the bad situation, and I think that's been happening quite frequently

03:05with this situation, considering the fact that Hendrickson's representation has been

03:09bullied and bodied by the Bengals for the past two years, and they're just trying to

03:13get a win here.

03:15Communications both publicly and privately around the Bengals this offseason has been

03:18to try and get all three of these deals done, Chase, Higgins, Hendrickson, probably in the

03:24order that is progressing right now.

03:26So I don't think that this is something new or recent that the Bengals are just looking

03:29at from the outside and saying, hey, no one thinks we can do this.

03:33Let's go ahead and do it.

03:34I still think that the plan from the get-go was to approach Hendrickson and get something

03:37done, but maybe this has been all lying under the surface this entire time because this

03:41goes back to before just this year, right?

03:43The Bengals lost so many players specifically on the defensive side of the ball that led

03:47to the roster getting to where it is right now.

03:49And even long before that, Andrew Whitworth, Kevin Zeidler, both left in the same offseason

03:53leading to the offensive line collapse that's been the case for the better part of the last

03:57eight years.

03:58The Bengals used to be entirely built around draft, develop, and retain when they could

04:03get their best players to take contracts that they agreed to.

04:06But as soon as other teams started throwing guaranteed money at a lot higher rate compared

04:10to the Bengals, that's when things started to change.

04:13And if they want to get Hendrickson done, they're going to have to include quite a bit

04:16of guaranteed money, at least in the form of rolling guarantees.

04:19So this isn't exactly the motivation that I would need in order to pay one of my best

04:23players, but if it does get the Bengals across the finish line, I think that's all Bengals

04:27fans can ask for at this point.

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