CINCINNATI — Trey Hendrickson has decided it is time to end his holdout.
The star Bengals edge rusher will report to camp Wednesday, per multiple reports including ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who reported Tuesday night that his decision to leave Florida and return to Cincinnati will hopefully be viewed by the team as a “good-faith gesture” to try and continue contract extension talks, which have been on and off the last several months.
Another reason Hendrickson, 30, is reporting is likely the fine money he’ll no longer have to dish out as the team could charge him $50,000 a day he misses camp while on the NFL Did Not Report list.
This is hopeful news for Bengals fans who want Hendrickson back on the field to provide much-needed pressure on the quarterback. Hendrickson led the NFL in 2024 with 17.5 sacks. NFL Media reported Tuesday that it’s unlikely he’ll practice until he has a new contract.
Shemar Stewart ended his holdout last weekend, signing his $18.97 million rookie deal on Saturday and reporting to camp on Sunday. He practiced Sunday and in full pads on Monday.
It’ll cost the Bengals significantly more to get Hendrickson back on the field with an extension. Hendrickson is due just $16 million this season plus potential bonuses. Hendrickson said in the offseason that he was promised by the Bengals in 2023 when he signed his one-year deal for 2025 that the team would bring him up to fair market value in an extension if he performed to or out-performed his current deal. It’s pretty clear from the 35 sacks in the last two seasons, he has met that criteria, with owner Mike Brown acknowledging as much on media day on July 21.
With no extension reached in the offseason, he was granted permission to seek a trade but no deal was reached. As Hendrickson enters the final year of his deal, he wants to be in the same conversation as Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt, who agreed to a three-year, $123 million extension ($108 million guaranteed) with the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago.
Hendrickson let loose on May 13 in an impromptu press conference on the practice fields during OTAs.
“We’ve tried to keep it the least amount personal as possible, but at some point in this process it becomes personal,” Hendrickson said. “Being sent 30 days before mandatory camp, or how many ever days it is, that if I don’t show up, I will be fined, alludes to the fact that something won’t get done in that time frame.
“The lack of communication post draft made it imminently clear to my party — meaning my wife, my son and my agent, a small group of people — that this might not work out.”
After missing the majority of the Bengals’ voluntary practices, Hendrickson skipped mandatory minicamp in June, running up potential fines of $105,000.
Hendrickson signed a four-year, $60 million deal to join the Bengals in free agency during the 2021 offseason and has been named to the Pro Bowl in each of the last four seasons. He has at least 14 sacks in three of his first four seasons in Cincinnati, totaling 56 sacks since joining the Bengals.
Most importantly to the Bengals defense, Hendrickson has applied constant pressure to opposing quarterbacks, generating 83 pressures and was second in pass rush win rate in 2024 at 24 percent. He’s also finished in the top 10 in pass rush win rate among edge rushers in all four years he’s been with the Bengals.
