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Trey Hendrickson Contract Extension: Cincinnati Bengals & Katie Blackburn Announce Deal
Apr 7, 2025
John Sheeran talks about the latest developments in the Trey Hendrickson contract negotiations, as Bengals EVP Katie Blackburn made some questionable comments about Hendrickson at the NFL meetings earlier this week.
*The Bengals Are In A VERY Messy Situation With Trey Hendrickson Right Now...*
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0:00
There is a literal he said she said situation that the Bengals are dealing with and in this video
0:04
I'm going to explain exactly what Trey Hendrickson is thinking right now
0:11
Hi again Bengals fans, John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here bringing you
0:16
another edition of the saga known as Trey Hendrickson's contract extension. On the surface
0:20
this one kind of looks like a doozy but I think the deeper that you go into it and look at it with
0:24
the finer details I think the less impactful it's actually going to end up being. For those who need
0:28
an update because we haven't really talked about this in, I don't know, like a week. Trey Hendrickson
0:32
is looking for a new contract. He is under contract for just this season. It's technically a $21 million
0:37
extension, even though he's only going to make $16 million in cash. Obviously, Trey Hendrickson
0:42
almost one defensive player of the year. He deserves more than that. He's looking for more
0:45
than that. The Bengals are willing to give him more than that. Now, how much more is obviously
0:50
the cause of this whole conflict? Now, there's something that everyone needs to understand about
0:54
what's happening here, and it's that when the Bengals are handling negotiations like this
0:58
They do not want details to be released into the public. They do not want to be talking about it to reporters
1:04
They don't want the players to be talking about it to reporters. They want to keep things completely internal between those four walls that they're doing all this business at
1:11
And in past years, when things have been like that, when they've been kept in secrecy, things end up working out for both the player and the team
1:17
But as soon as things start to become public whether the player is talking to the press or a representative from the team is talking about it to the press and there details that are getting out there about what actually going on very rarely do good things end up happening from that And personally the reason why I believe this to be the case
1:32
is that the Bengals do not communicate very well in the eyes of you and me
1:35
just the average person. So when Katie Blackburn, the executive vice president of the team
1:39
who essentially runs the Bengals at this point when she takes her annual turn talking to the media for about an hour down at the annual league meetings
1:46
talking about a plethora of different topics, and Trey Hendrickson comes up, that's when things start to break down
1:51
Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but the words that she used talking about the subject
1:55
did not come off as friendly. Because when Blackburn was asked about Hendrickson and where things stand in negotiations
2:00
she said, quote, I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at
2:04
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
2:09
So it takes him to say yes to something. And also we have all the respect in the world for him
2:14
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
2:18
We're just going to see where it goes. Now, if a player hasn't accepted whatever contract offer
2:22
you've offered him, and then you say into a microphone that you know is going to be on the
2:26
record, he should be happy at the offer that he has. It's probably not the best way to go about
2:32
this when you're talking about it from a public relations standpoint. But in reality, this is
2:35
kind of how the Bengals have always communicated. Very rarely do we see it publicized like this
2:39
because very rarely do the powers that be actually speak publicly. But this is just kind of how their
2:44
mind works they always want to be in the position of power and talk in a position of power but it completely understandable that Trey Hendrickson would hear that and would take some offense to it which he rightfully did Because in a miraculous coincidence Trey Hendrickson appeared on the Pat McAfee show just a day later after Blackburn comments became
3:00
public. And when asked about what Blackburn said, he said, quote, that was a little disappointing
3:05
because communication has been poor over the last couple of months. That's something that I hold in
3:10
high regard. They have not communicated with my agent directly. It's been something that's been a
3:14
little bit frustrating but again this is the business of it now Hendrickson went on to say
3:18
a bunch of other things about the situation he's very clearly frustrated about how everything is
3:22
going down but I think there's a reason as to why he took the public stage right after Katie
3:28
Blackburn did because as soon as basically the highest power within the Bengals organization
3:31
went public talking about how the negotiations are going and just any sort of detail regarding
3:37
what is happening he took it upon himself to go back into the public forum remember this is not
3:41
the first time that he's talked about this publicly. He went on the McAfee show during the Super Bowl week at Radio Row. I think there was another program where he was talking about it
3:48
as well. And he's doing this to get you on his side. And I think for the most part, he has a lot
3:53
of valid points, but he wants you on his side because he doesn't have an ounce of leverage in
3:58
this. Like it sucks. It really does. I think there are ways to just get past this and create an
4:02
amicable solution, but that's not how the Bengals want to take this. And unfortunately, they have all
4:07
the power here So Trey can complain to Pat McAfee however much he wants and he can get everyone in the fan base and around the NFL to take his side about how the Bengals are being cruel and unusual towards him But at the end of the day the Bengals hold his contract rights They don have to trade him if they don want to They don have to pay him if they don want to regarding a new extension
4:25
And as smart as it would be to pay Trey Hendrickson what he's worth and pay it as soon as possible
4:30
they have the power to make him accept whatever contract that they want because he realizes that
4:35
he can't hold out this season. He can't enter free agency at 31 years old after not playing
4:40
out the 2025 season. He knows that this is his best chance at getting one last payday, one last
4:46
contract with multiple years with guaranteed money on it. And I don't know what the Bengals have or
4:50
haven't offered him in regards to those details, but he knows that this is the best chance for him
4:55
to get that. And airing out this dirty laundry is, in his mind, the only way that he can nudge them
5:00
in that direction. And the reason why his efforts here are probably not going to pay off the way
5:04
that he wants them to is because the Bengals do not care one iota about looking like the villain
5:10
Yeah, they'll take victory laps around talking heads when they pay players that no one expects
5:13
them to pay or they win games that no one expects them to win. But when it comes to either rule
5:18
changes or contract standoffs, they always stand their ground. So do I think that the events of
5:23
this week is going to impact what kind of offer Trey gets or what kind of timetable we're looking
5:27
at about when an extension could be reached? No, I don't think so. I think Trey realizes the
5:32
situation that he's in and he didn't want to rely on an agent who's clearly not done very good work
5:37
for him in the past couple of years and he took it upon himself to try to get himself out of this
5:41
mess but unfortunately he's stuck in it and i think he knows it
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