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The Cincinnati Bengals have had an eventful offseason, culminating in re-signing top players to huge contracts. After signing Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase to over $100 million contracts, the last remaining piece to sign is stud pass rusher Trey Hendrickson.
Initially, it seemed like the team would trade him, but now things are changing as the Bengals seem more open to pulling out their checkbook once again.
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According to Jordan Schultz, the latest update on the Bengals-Hendrickson situation is a trade is completely off the table, with the team all-in on re-signing another star player.
Here’s the latest on where things stand between the #Bengals and Trey Hendrickson: The idea of a trade appears dead, and the Bengals would love to complete a sweep of paying all their key players.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) March 25, 2025
(via @NFLonFOXPod)pic.twitter.com/UGmHOcY0rY
It seemed logical to try and trade Hendrickson given the amount of money they already have wrapped up in top players, but another player in that mix is apparently possible for the Bengals to pull off.
The question then becomes how they fill out the rest of the roster, as while it's nice to have a couple of stars who are locked down with huge contracts, it does make building a talented all-around team extremely difficult. The roster has 53 players on it for a reason.
With that said, the players the Bengals do have tied up with big money are players at important positions.
Quarterback Joe Burrow is making $55 million per year, which is fair for him as one of the top QBs in the league. Receivers Higgins and Chase are two of the top guys in the league at the position catching passes from said quarterback.
Hendrickson is an edge rusher, arguably the second most important position in football behind quarterback, making him nearly as important of a player to the team as Burrow. That alone makes him worth paying big bucks.
Assumedly each side has mutual interest based on reports, which is an interesting change in perspective based on initial reports that the two sides were working out a trade.
Usually when some form of trade request goes down, that is final and the trade happens. This situation between Hendrickson and the Bengals is different seemingly.
With the Bengals keeping all of their top players, as long as they can stay healthy and add solid players in the draft, they can compete for not just the AFC North division title, but for the AFC's spot in the Super Bowl.
The team made the big game back in 2022 and will look to retool the pieces around their small core of highly-paid superstars to try and make it back there.
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About the writer
Seth Quinn is a contributing sports writer based in Massachusetts. His focus is on sports, primarily the NFL and NBA. He has in depth ... Read more