Trey Hendrickson Reveals Unfortunate Update on Contract Negotiations With Bengals

The Trey Hendrickson-Cincinnati Bengals timeline continues to be a rollercoaster. At one point, he was granted permission to seek a trade, then things became more positive, and now they are back to being negative again.

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With Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins both signing huge contracts, reports suggested Hendrickson was next in line. However, things aren't moving very fast apparently, indicating a potential standstill between the two sides.

On the Pat McAfee show, Hendrickson was asked to provide some clarity on negotiations, to which he responded in a negative manner.

First, he responded to comments from team executive Katie Blackburn.

Then he went into more detail on the negotiations themselves as of late, describing communication as poor.

Hendrickson went on to also say that when he says communication has been poor, he means it has been inconsistent, and he doesn't have any specific stipulations to how much he gets paid, he just wants to get paid what he is worth.

"We don't have any desire to be the highest paid or first in line, and we've tried to be as patient as possible," he said.

It seems it may be a bit until this whole contract situation gets settled, whether that means Hendrickson receiving a new contract or being paid. Either way, everything he talked about on the McAfee show seems to indicate he wants to return to the Bengals.

While contract negotiations are more complicated than what the public eye sees, if Hendrickson isn't worried about what he is being paid compared to other players, it is hard to imagine what the real issue is.

It is possible the Bengals are being a bit stingy, which is a little understandable at least given the money they have thrown at their top offensive players, but Hendrickson certainly deserves to be paid as one of the top pass rushers in the league at least.

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Hendrickson has made the Pro Bowl each of the last four seasons, and has hit double-digit sacks in four of the last five seasons. Even if he doesn't deserve to be paid as the highest-paid defender in the NFL, he still deserves big money.

As of now, it seems the ball is in Cincinnati's court to get negotiations moving and for a compromise to be reached. Hendrickson sounds happy in Cincinnati and not picky on the specifics of his contract, so it will be interesting to see how news surrounding the situation changes as time goes on.

If a deal hasn't been reached by the NFL draft, who the Bengals take with the 17th pick could indicate a lot about the situation.

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