During the offseason, the Bengals and defensive end Trey Hendrickson engaged in a lengthy contract dispute — one that included a trade request.
Hendrickson and the club ended up agreeing to a restructured deal just before the start of regular season, getting him back in the fold.
But with Cincinnati and 3-6 and the trade deadline quickly approaching, would Hendrickson still like to be elsewhere?
“I stopped doing hopes and all that stuff a long time ago,” Hendrickson said on Monday, via Jay Morrison of SI.com. “You are where your feet are, and I’m incredibly blessed to be where I am right now.”
Hendrickson has been dealing with a hip injury that kept him sidelined for Sunday’s loss to the Bears. But his production has not been the same as the last couple of years. After registering 17.5 sacks in each of the last two seasons, Hendricks has just 4.0 in seven games this season, with his last sack coming in the team’s Week 5 loss to the Lions.
From that and other factors, Hendrickson isn’t necessarily expecting much of anything to develop over the next day.
“I think this offseason I had a million different scenarios that could happen,” Hendrickson said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of TheAthletic.com. “The only one that happens is the one they approve. It’s kind of out of my hands and I just trust in the Lord through this process. Whatever he has in store, it will be done.
“I can’t control what people’s evaluations and questions of me are,” Hendrickson added. “I can only say that I have a standard for my play and I think they have a standard for their recovery process. The Jets game was a little early in hindsight. Having unfortunate setbacks like that are kind of annoying. This is uncharted territory for me over the last four years. Navigating these will be a day-to-day process in figuring out when it is best and when the time is to get back to doing what I love.”
