Bengals executive proves again the team is awful at keeping its players happy

The Cincinnati Bengals have made a lot of waves so far during the NFL offseason, and it's been a pretty healthy mix of positive and negative from the AFC team which failed to reach the playoffs in 2024.

While the Bengals were able to come to terms on massive deals with wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Cincinnati has struggled to find a similar end game with their most important defensive star, Trey Hendrickson.

There's been much back and forth between the team and Hendrickson, however, no deal is done and after requesting a trade the longer this goes on the more likely it appears that we could see that as a reality once the NFL Draft happens at the end of April.

Bengals EVP Katie Blackburn on Trey Hendrickson: On him to be happy at some point. https://t.co/Fu2lN7fSpy
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 2, 2025

The Bengals have also been very bad when it comes to speaking publicly about their players during negotiations, and that trend continued recently when the team's executive vice president Katie Blackburn was mentioning the Hendrickson situation.

“I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn’t think he’d be happy at,” Blackburn said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

🚨HELL OF A STORY🚨#Bengals superstar pass rusher Trey Hendrickson was nonexistent in his first 2 seasons in the #NFL

Zero starts
Two sacks
14 solo tackles

In the last 6 season, Hendrickson has had:

85 sacks
199 tackles
All-Pro
4x Pro Bowler
Deacon Jones Award

PERSEVERANCE. pic.twitter.com/FfVu1opUp8
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) March 30, 2025

Now, on the surface, it's not exactly the worst quote possible, but if you're a team aiming to keep one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, maybe that's not the phrasing to put out to the rest of the NFL world.

Hendrickson has quite literally been the stabilizing force on a Bengals that has been subpar for many years, and still found a way to put up incredible numbers in the process. His future in Cincy is very much uncertain, but that could mean a very good outcome for another franchie if the Bengals opt to part way at some point this offseason.

Home/NFL