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As written here consistently, barring a shocker, it has long felt like the Cincinnati Bengals will eventually emerge the “winners” of the contract standoff with star defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
Those Bengals just happen to hold the vast majority of the leverage during this latest contract impasse with Hendrickson, despite the All-Pro’s recent 20-plus minute airing of grievances at a team practice.
Despite this, Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated slots Hendrickson losing the standoff as one of his bold predictions for the season:
“The alternative is to become Haason Reddick, which, for a player entering his age-31 season, cannot be appetizing. By taking the Bengals’ reported current offer, Hendrickson can upgrade his salary by nearly $12 million and, while still being underpaid, improve upon his prospects for next offseason more by staying in Cincinnati than he could as a year-to-year mercenary for less on another roster.”
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By now, Bengals fans know that isn’t all that bold, though. This is merely the latest offseason dustup with Hendrickson over a contract. Past years have featured short one-year extensions and even reported threats of retirement. This offseason featured the Bengals actually granting him permission to seek a trade that never happened due to his age, production level, contract demands and trade asking price, to name a few factors.
Right now, Hendrickson is simply using every last bit of leverage he has left to make noise before the fines start to kick in during mandatory minicamp this month and training camp after that. He’s extremely unlikely to actually miss games at his age with millions of dollars lost in fines while hurting his value with other teams.
Hendrickson will likely wind up “losing’ this affair in the form of a massive pay raise over the short-term, but just not for the exact number or years he and his reps seek.
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