FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

Trey Hendrickson Done in Cincinnati if He Doesn't Get Paid

By Matt Schauf | Updated on Tue, May 13 2025 6:59 PM UTC

Bengals Edge Trey Hendrickson showed up at the team's voluntary workouts Tuesday to speak to the media. According to ESPN's Ben Baby, Hendrickson said he won't play for the Bengals in 2025 under his current contract. Hendrickson had previously said that the team cut off contract negotiations and that the situation has become "personal."

What They're Saying

Hendrickson: "If I sat here with four sacks, they'd want a pay cut and some money back. ... I'm not going to apologize for the rates being paid to defensive ends in the National Football League."

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

We'll see.

It's kinda refreshing to get this blunt a statement rather than the team and player just speaking in vagueries about how they expect something to get worked out.

Hendrickson tallied 17.5 sacks each of the past two years. In the four seasons since he joined the Bengals, only Myles Garrett (60) and T.J. Watt (58.5) have more sacks than Hendrickson's 57.

He ranks 12th at the position in annual average value on his current contract; ninth in 2025 cap hit, according to Spotrac.

If the two sides don't work it out, the Bengals would head toward the season with Joseph Ossai, first-round rookie Shemar Stewart, Myles Murphy, and Cam Sample leading a lackluster edge group.

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.