There’s a subtle, yet substantial, difference between giving a player permission to seek a trade and listening to trade offers for the player.
As to Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson, the former happened months ago. The latter is reportedly occurring now.
The goal, as we understood it at the time, for allowing Hendrickson to seek a trade was to allow him to realize that no other team would be willing to pay him what he wants. The fact, as it has been reported, that the Bengals are currently listening to offers for Hendrickson’s contract implies that one or more teams are now willing to pay him more than the Bengals have offered.
The market has changed since Hendrickson first tried to find a trade. That happened in the aftermath of the Raiders signing defensive end Maxx Crosby to a contract with a new-money average of $35.5 million per year. Since then, the Browns re-signed defensive end Myles Garrett at a new-money APY of $40 million. More recently, the Steelers and T.J. Watt pushed the new-money bar to $41 million.
The other problem between the Bengals and Hendrickson relates to the structure of the deal. The Bengals reportedly have not been willing to fully guarantee more than the first year of the deal.
It’s entirely possible, if not likely, that one or more teams are willing to offer a contract that Hendrickson will accept. Indeed, common sense suggests that a team wouldn’t give the Bengals value for Hendrickson without knowing that they can sign him to a new deal, especially since he has made it clear that he won’t play under his current compensation package of $16 million.
If all of this is true—and if they’re listening to offers that other teams are making—the ball is in the Bengals’ court. Whether quarterback Joe Burrow will be pleased with the prospect of Hendrickson leaving is a different issue.
Either way, Week 1 happens in three weeks. If Hendrickson is going to be in uniform for anyone on September 4 or September 5 or September 7 or September 8, something needs to happen, soon.
