Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson won’t play on current deal, says things have become ‘personal’

CINCINNATI — Trey Hendrickson showed up at Paycor Stadium on Tuesday in dress pants, a collared shirt and a black hat. He wasn’t dressed for practice, despite standing to the side of the Cincinnati Bengals’ scheduled session. He was dressed for a meeting with the media.

Hendrickson, embroiled in a contract dispute with the club, unloaded about “disappointment” with how talks have gone and feeling like things got “personal” between him and the team.

Advertisement

The runner-up for NFL Defensive Player of the Year said he received a text from coach Zac Taylor specifying he would be fined if he did not attend mandatory minicamp next month. Hendrickson pointed out the frustration in that messaging, considering what he dubbed a lack of communication with the organization over the offseason.

Hendrickson was asked explicitly if he was willing to play out this season under his current contract, which has one year and $21 million remaining.

“No,” he said, notably the only answer in the 25-minute session in which he didn’t elaborate.

This marked the fourth time Hendrickson has addressed the media about his contract situation. He spoke at the Super Bowl to “The Pat McAfee Show” and went on McAfee’s show again after Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn commented about his contract at the league meetings. Hendrickson offered a statement to ESPN on Monday before showing up at the team facility Tuesday.

Hendrickson spoke to different members of the organization as he dropped into the facility, but notably, no members of the family ownership who attended.

He admitted frustration over the narrative that he knew the Bengals could receive predetermined compensation when he was permitted to seek a trade in March, the communication throughout the process and the fact that the numbers haven’t reflected the change in the defensive end market due to contracts signed by Maxx Crosby, Danielle Hunter and Myles Garrett.

“I’m not going to apologize for the rates of the defensive ends being paid in the National Football League,” Hendrickson said.

But, most of all, this latest situation was about the text sent from Taylor about the minicamp fine that Hendrickson felt made this personal.

“A little bit transpired between me and Zac,” he said. “We’ve tried to keep it as least amount as personal as possible, but at some point in this process, it’s become personal. Being sent 30 days before mandatory camp, or how many ever days it is, that if I don’t show up, I will be fined, alludes to the fact that something won’t get done in that time frame.

Advertisement

“With the lack of communication post-draft made it imminently clear to my party — meaning my wife, my son and my agent, a small group of people — that I had (to) inform that this might not work out. I don’t think it was necessary. I think we should have all hoped for the best until proven otherwise.”

Hendrickson left the door open to figuring out a solution, despite the clarity that the answer doesn’t involve him playing out the current contract. It’s also clear that the offseason of drama surrounding the NFL’s sack leader is far from over.

“I think every relationship is repairable, right?” he said. “Like, I think Myles Garrett proved that he’s a great man, and he’s done great things for his family, and obviously providing on and off the football field. He’s tremendous. But I think that relationship will repair with time. And same with this. This is just the uncomfortable business side that we’ve unfortunately had to deal with for the last couple years, and, quite frankly, I think we’re all spent.”

(Photo: Frank Bowen IV / The Enquirer / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Click here to read article