On Tuesday, star defensive end Trey Hendrickson spoke of a sense of betrayal by the Cincinnati Bengals.
“‘Go do it, play it out. We’ll take care of you,’” Hendrickson told reporters. “It’s just disappointing.”
The drama between the Bengals and their best defensive player has been building for months. This week, it exploded.
On Monday, Hendrickson said in a statement to ESPN that there has been no communication between the team and himself or his agent, Harold Lewis, since the draft. Thus, there has been no progress toward “reaching mutual goals.”
On Tuesday, Hendrickson was present but did not participate in voluntary workouts. Afterward, he said he would not play under his current contract. According to Hendrickson, coach Zac Taylor texted Hendrickson on Monday, telling him he’d be fined if he didn’t show up to the June minicamp.
“It’s become personal, unfortunately,” Hendrickson said.
If Hendrickson wants out, there’s one Super Bowl contender who emerged from free agency and the draft without improving its pass rush.
The Green Bay Packers.
While the Packers finished eighth in sacks last season, they were 16th in pressure percentage and 21st in knockdown percentage, according to SportRadar. Their only pass-rushing additions were fourth-round defensive end Barryn Sorrell and fifth-round defensive end Collin Oliver.
“I’m very happy that we drafted them,” defensive end Jeff Hafley said on Monday. “I think it creates competition. We’ll see. I hope we can get as much as possible out of them and get some good rush out of them. …
“Really good guys, smart guys, very competitive, fun to watch their college tape, but we’ll find out as we really get going.”
Wishing and hoping is good. Guaranteed elite production is better.
Hendrickson was first-team All-Pro in 2024 with an NFL-leading 17.5 sacks. For the Packers, Rashan Gary led the way with 7.5 sacks. Combined, the defensive ends who ended the season on Green Bay’s roster – Gary (7.5), Kingsley Enagbare (4.5), Brenton Cox (4.0), Lukas Van Ness (3.0) and Arron Mosby (0.5) – combined for 19.5 sacks.
There’s more to rushing the passer than sacking the quarterback. According to Pro Football Focus, Hendrickson and Browns star Myles Garrett tied for the NFL lead with 83 total pressures. Combined, Green Bay’s top two, Gary (45) and Enagbare (27) had 72 pressures. Van Ness had 20, so Hendrickson had only nine fewer pressures than Gary, Enagbare and Van Ness combined.
Hendrickson is coming off his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl season. He’s recorded at least 13.5 sacks in four of the last five seasons. Hendrickson also had 17.5 sacks in 2023; Reggie White is the only player in NFL history with three consecutive seasons of 17.5 sacks.
There’s little doubt Hendrickson would help any defense. With Gary once again failing to reach 10 sacks and with defensive tackle Kenny Clark coming off a disappointing season and with his 30th birthday looming, the Packers don’t have a true game-wrecking defensive lineman.
Hendrickson will turn 31 late in the season. He’s entering his final season under contract and is grossly underpaid with a $15.8 million base salary. This offseason, Garrett signed a contract extension worth $40 million per season, the Texans’ Danielle Hunter inked an extension worth $35.6 million per season and the Raiders’ Maxx Crosby signed an extension worth $35.5 million per season.
Those are all fresh deals, so hammering out an agreement with Hendrickson should be fairly simple.
“I’m not going to apologize for the rates of the defensive ends being paid in the National Football League,” Hendrickson said.
The Bengals, apparently, think Hendrickson should apologize.
“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said at the NFL spring meetings. “I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he’s not, you know, that’s what holds it up sometimes. So, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him.”
From Green Bay’s perspective, the finances would be daunting.
While the Packers are about $27.4 million beneath the 2025 salary cap, hard times are on the horizon. According to OverTheCap.com, merely filling out a 51-man offseason roster would put them $7.14 million over the 2026 cap. Only eight teams are in worse shape.
There are levers to create cap space, such as moving on from Jaire Alexander and contract restructures. However, the Packers also have to handle a strong group of pending free agents, highlighted by star right tackle Zach Tom.
While the Packers didn’t make any high-profile additions to their defensive line this offseason, they did draft Sorrell and Oliver. Along with the returning quintet, the Packers have an abundance of numbers on the edge.
Given the massive contracts handed to quarterback Joe Burrow and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, maybe the Bengals would have interest in one of Green Bay’s rookie-contract defensive ends as part of a trade package if they can’t work things out with their top defensive player.
“Telling the truth will set you free,” Hendrickson said of going public with his frustration. “To have these tough conversations and say the truth – I’m a Floridian. There’s unprovoked shark attacks and there’s provoked shark attacks.
“The comments that are being made – whatever happened at the Combine, whatever happened at the owners meetings and the text I got (from Taylor) yesterday – this is not something where I’m just twiddling my thumbs thinking, ‘Oh, how can I get the next one up?’ These things are provoked.”
And they should provoke a call from the Packers to see if they can add a potential missing piece to a Super Bowl-caliber team.
