Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson received a $14 million raise for the 2025 season after back-to-back seasons with 17.5 sacks.
While the raise is substantial, Hendrickson lacks long-term security and will be a free agent after the 2025 season.
The drawn-out negotiation created unnecessary drama, despite the Bengals’ financial capability to resolve the contract earlier.
Few players, if any, have been as productive on the defensive side of the ball during the last two NFL seasons as Trey Hendrickson.
Finally, the Cincinnati Bengals’ edge rusher has a salary for the 2025 season that properly reflects his value. According to multiple reports, the Bengals and Hendrickson agreed to a raise that will pay him $30 million (up from the original $16 million he was scheduled to make) this season.
Obviously, the bonus is a victory for Hendrickson. The Bengals are more than pleased to get him going with their Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns less than two weeks away. They are the winners in this scenario. But are the two sides both also losers? Let’s examine.
WINNERS
Trey Hendrickson
He is $14 million richer this season – which amounts to a 46.7% raise, not bad for this economy – and has the chance to earn an additional $1 million if he plays 60% of snaps this season and the Bengals make the playoffs (per ESPN). He’s still a free agent after this season and should his production rival his past few campaigns, teams will be lining up for his services next offseason.
Joe Burrow
Listening to the franchise quarterback is never a bad idea. After the Bengals missed the playoffs last season, Burrow immediately turned up the pressure on Cincinnati ownership and the front office by using his media tour the week of the Super Bowl to stump for the Bengals’ trio of new-deal seekers: wide receivers Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, and Hendrickson. It took more than six months, but “Joe Cool” got his wish.
Cincinnati Bengals
Not breaking any news here by saying Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor’s team is better with Hendrickson on the field than he is wearing sweats on the sidelines. Even with first-round pick Shemar Stewart – he also of Bengals contract conundrum lore – in the fold, the team lacks high-level pass-rushing ability outside of Hendrickson. Not having him could have been disastrous for a defense that tied for seventh-most points surrendered in 2024.
Al Golden
Taylor let defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo go after last season and brought in former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden. With Hendrickson signed and not having to be replaced, Golden can use the elite pass-rusher’s skills to his advantage.
T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett
The AFC North division foes of Hendrickson each signed their megadeals earlier in the offseason, with Watt eclipsing Garrett’s temporary status as the game’s highest-paid defender. But at $41 million and $40 million per year, respectively, they did much better than Hendrickson despite all three being around the same age.
LOSERS
Bengals
The team endured what felt like a never-ending offseason of contract drama by not addressing the Hendrickson situation once they took care of Chase and Higgins. Did it take Mike Brown and the front office all this time to simply find $15 million in the couch cushions? The Bengals are the least valuable NFL team, but last I checked, that figure is still more than … $5 billion. Billion. With a “B.”
Hendrickson
He leaves this standoff with 2025 being a “prove-it” year and no long-term security, which he stated throughout the holdout (hold in?) as his primary goal of the negotiation. According to The Athletic, the Bengals offered a three-year, $95 million deal with no guaranteed money from the second year on. And the team still holds the power of the franchise tag heading into 2026.
Micah Parsons
With Hendrickson signing on the dotted line and Washington Commanders wideout Terry McLaurin agreeing to his new deal Monday, Parsons remains the NFL’s most notable holdout (hold in?), with kickoff 10 days away. The silver lining for Parsons is that he’s chasing Garrett-Watt dollars, not Hendrickson’s windfall.
Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco
The Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson isn’t totally excluded here, but he certainly has a better shot of evading Hendrickson than the other two 40-somethings who play quarterback in the division. Hendrickson can do some damage on his way to replicating another 17.5-sack season in four combined games against Rodgers and Flacco alone, so long as he wins a handful of times at the line of scrimmage.
The media
One less thing to talk about. At least the real games are starting soon.
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