
Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson has ended his holdout and is back practicing with the club, despite the Bengals holding firm in their contract talks with the defensive end.
Quarterback Joe Burrow told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that he’s glad to have Hendrickson back, but not just for what he does on the field at practice.
“[M]ore so walking around, meetings, team meeting, training, room, stuff like that,” Burrow said, via Russ Heltman of SI.com. “He brings an intensity that is very unique, and so I think that’s good for us.”
Still, Burrow made an argument for the Bengals to reward Hendrickson, who is set to make a base salary of $15.8 million in 2025 — under half of the top of the market in average annual value for edge rushers.
“This is the guy that has the most sacks over the last two years,” Burrow said. “Production is value in this league. I know you can think you’re such a good player, but to not have any production doesn’t really matter. So when you have a guy like that, you want to reward him.”
As camp continues, Burrow said whether or not the Bengals and Hendrickson can come up with an agreement is not up to him.
“Not a lot of teams getting these big deals done early in the offseason, only a couple,” Burrow said. “I think it’s pretty commonplace across the league to have these things done around this time, a little later towards Game 1. So, that’s probably what you’re going to see.”
Hendrickson has recorded 17.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons for Cincinnati, leading the league in the category in 2024.
#Joe #Burrow #guy #Trey #Hendrickson #reward