Disgruntled $81 Million Defensive End Returns to Bengals

Getty Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson.

The Cincinnati Bengals are one of the few teams with a realistic shot of making it to the Super Bowl in 2024, but they will need all of their key pieces in place to do so.

One of those key pieces returned to the fold on May 13, when a video from the Bengals’ official X account showed defensive end Trey Hendrickson going through workouts with the team.

Hendrickson requested a trade on April 24 after not receiving a contract extension and had missed the first three weeks of voluntary workouts with the Bengals.

Hendrickson signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Bengals in 2021 and received a one-year, $21 million contract extension in July 2023 that keeps him under contract with the franchise through 2025. That extension reportedly included an $8 million signing bonus.

Hendrickson is coming off a career year in which he set a Bengals single-season record with 17.5 sacks and was named first-team NFL All-Pro and earned his third consecutive Pro Bowl selection.

Hendrickson has 39.5 sacks over the last three seasons.

From FAU to Becoming NFL Superstar

Hendrickson, 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft (No. 103 overall) after being named the 2016 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year at Florida Atlantic.

Hendrickson only played in 17 games in his first two seasons and didn’t make his first start until his third season. He had a breakout year in 2020 with the Saints, starting 15 games and finishing with 13.5 sacks and parlayed that into the lucrative 4-year, $60 million contract with the Bengals.

In his first season with Cincinnati, Hendrickson had 14.0 sacks during the regular season and helped lead the Bengals back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1988. Hendrickson was just as dominant in that year’s postseason run, racking up 3.5 sacks and 1 forced fumble in 4 games.

“We want Trey to play here next year for us,” Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor told ESPN’s Ben Baby on April 27. “He’s going to play here next year for us. He’s going to have success, we’re going to have success and I’m excited for that.”

Bengals Dealing With Multiple Contract Issues

Hendrickson isn’t the only disgruntled star on the Bengals looking for more money.

Wide receiver Tee Higgins was given the franchise tag and has gone back and forth between requesting a trade and appearing to say he’ll play for the Bengals in 2024 throughout the offseason.

Through his first 4 seasons in the NFL, Higgins made approximately $10 million — the franchise tag would pay him approximately $21.8 million in 2024.

After making it to the Super Bowl in 2021, the Bengals made it to the AFC Championship Game for a rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 but lost 23-20  on a 45-yard field goal by Harrison Butker as time expired that was set up by a late-hit penalty on Joseph Ossai on the Chiefs’ final drive.

Cincinnati missed the playoffs after back-to-back appearances in 2023 thanks in no small part to a rash of injuries, including quarterback Joe Burrow, the highest-paid player in NFL history, suffering a season-ending wrist injury that forced him to miss the last 7 games of the season.