The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t holding up their end at the bargaining table, according to Trey Hendrickson.
The star edge rusher has seen his already ugly contract negotiations with the team come to a resounding halt, and the 30-year-old called out Bengals brᴀss on Monday.
“No communication has taken place between my camp and the organization post draft,” Hendrickson said in a statement to ESPN.
“The offers prior to the draft did not reflect the vision we shared and were promised last offseason if I continued to play at a high level. Coaches are aware of these past conversations. Rather than using collaboration to get us to a point to bring me home to the team, THEY are no longer communicating. I have been eagerly awaiting a resolution of this situation, but that’s hard to do when there is no discussion and an evident lack of interest in reaching mutual goals.”
Hendrickson is entering the final year of his deal with the team — a four-year, $60 million contract inked as a free agent in 2021, with the FAU product requesting a trade last season when he sought a new deal.
The franchise instead hung on to him, and he’s set to play on a $15.8 million base salary, far below the $40 million being paid to Bowns star Myles Garrett.
Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks last season, racking up 17.5 en route to his fourth straight Pro Bowl. Over his tenure with the Bengals, he’s posted 57 sacks in 65 games.
It also comes after the team handed out big-money deals to receivers Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase this offseason.
His discontent has grown over the past few months, during which he called out executive Katie Blackburn.
“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Blackburn said the “Pat McAfee Show” on April 1. “I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he’s not, that’s what holds it up sometimes. It takes him to say yes to something. We have all the respect in the world for him.”
Hendrickson added that these comments were sad because “the communication has been poor over the last couple of months.”
