Steelers Now
Cincinnati Bengals All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who has not received the new contract he has been looking for, is not attending the Bengals’ mandatory minicamp, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Hendrickson (35.0 sacks) and Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt (30.5) are 1-2 in the NFL in sacks the past two seasons. Neither one is attending mandatory minicamp. The two elite pass rushers are trying to gain leverage and put pressure on their respective teams.
Hendrickson and Watt will be subject to fines of $104,768 for missing minicamp this week. The fines go up with each day missed.
Hendrickson is entering the final year of his contract and is slated to make just $15.8 million in base salary. He has said if the Bengals don’t plan to give him long-term security, he wants to be traded. And he revealed talks have stalled since the 2025 NFL Draft, and it’s not because of his camp.
“No communication has taken place between my camp and the organization post draft,” Hendrickson said on ESPN in May. “The offers prior to the draft did not reflect the vision we shared and were promised last offseason if I continued to play at a high level. Coaches are aware of these past conversations. Rather than using collaboration to get us to a point to bring me home to the team, THEY are no longer communicating. I have been eagerly awaiting a resolution of this situation, but that’s hard to do when there is no discussion and an evident lack of interest in reaching mutual goals.”
Hendrickson, 30, is not often mentioned in the same class as star edge rushers T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Maxx Crosby, but he is an elite pass rusher.
Over the past two seasons, he has led the NFL with 35 sacks and finished second in the 2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting after leading the league with 17.5 sacks.
The Bengals did grant Hendrickson permission to seek a trade but nothing has yet to materialize. That will become increasingly more difficult as the summer progresses and potentially interested team’s fill out their rosters.
However, that doesn’t Cincinnati wouldn’t love to retain Hendrickson. He was one of the few bright spots on its struggling defense last year. But the team is aware that won’t be easy after it broke the bank for star wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this offseason.
The two sides seem to be at an impasse with no resolution in sight. Bengals owner Mike Brown is also notorious for being frugal.
Aaron Becker contributed reporting for this story.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Bengals All-Pro Edge Rusher Will Not Attend Mandatory Minicamp
