Zac Taylor Making Trey Hendrickson Lose Importance as Joe Burrow Confirms Bengals DE’s Contract Deadline

The situation is tangled. The lingering contract standoff between Trey Hendrickson and the Cincinnati Bengals‘ front office has turned into a bigger conversation about how this team operates. DE Hendrickson is entering the one-year, $21 million extension that he signed back in 2023, which is tacked onto the original four-year, $60 million deal. On paper, the Bengals and their star player aren’t far apart. Both sides have found common ground on salary and the length of the deal. But the sticking point? It’s the guaranteed money beyond 2025. For now, Cincinnati is holding firm, and Hendrickson is holding out. But that isn’t even their real problem. Well, only a few could put the issue in front as bluntly as the three–time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth.

Former NFL lineman and now analyst Mark Schlereth weighed in on the matter. He pointed out that Hendrickson’s future may not even change the bigger problem in Cincinnati. “Listen, Trey Hendrickson is a phenomenal football player. Love watching him play. But in Cincinnati, the one thing they want to do is they want to sit back in shotgun and throw the football. And like the way they are built, the way they are constructed, they’re going to try to outscore people. That’s what they did last year. Their offensive coordinator came out this offseason and said, ‘Hey, we just got to outscore people.’ And I thought to myself, how’d that work for you last year? It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Schlereth said while on The Dan Patrick Show.

So, as per the former NFLer, Zac Taylor is building the Bengals around Joe Burrow and the passing game. And not around defensive stars like Trey Hendrickson. Hendrickson is a force. But when your whole philosophy is ‘we’ll just sit in shotgun and try to outscore everyone,‘ you’re putting less value on the defense. That’s why Schlereth was so critical. Because instead of leaning on a balanced approach where Hendrickson’s impact matters, Taylor’s strategy makes him feel like a side piece. And that’s what creates the sense that Hendrickson’s importance is being pushed aside. But Schlereth didn’t stop here.

For Schlereth, it all comes back to the treatment of  Joe Burrow. “They’re wasting Joe Burrow because they basically make him play the entirety of four quarters on a high dive, and ultimately, that’s a recipe for disaster. And you got to take that guy off the high dive occasionally. You got to give him opportunities just to take a breather, and they never do. It’s all on Joe Burrow 24/7 in Cincinnati. So whether they sign Hendrickson or not, that’s not going to change the philosophy of how they play.” 

Meanwhile, Hendrickson has delivered exactly what the Bengals hoped for when they signed him to a four-year, $60 million deal in 2021. He became one of the NFL’s most consistent DEs. He’s earned Pro Bowl honors in each of his four seasons with Cincinnati. His resume is highlighted by a career-best 17.5 sacks in 2023 & 2024. He was even ranked second in the league in pass rush win rate as an edge rusher at 24.2% and in quarterback hits (36). Yet as Schlereth points out, even elite defensive production won’t fix a flawed offensive philosophy.

And while Schlereth’s criticism targeted Cincinnati’s offensive philosophy, the conversation around Trey Hendrickson soon shifted from scheme to business, with contract talks taking center stage.

Joe Burrow speaks about the Trey Hendrickson and Bengals contract dispute

Amid the storm of this contract dispute, Joe Burrow isn’t sweating Trey Hendrickson’s contract talks. Pointing to the Bengals’ history of pushing negotiations to the edge of Week 1 before finalizing extensions, Burrow explained that the QB himself went through it just two years ago. He, too, inked his mega extension only days before the opener. Further examples include players like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Last season, the talks didn’t heat up until the week leading into the kickoff. And this spring, both Chase and Higgins managed to get their deals settled before the training camp. But only after weeks of slow movement.

To Burrow, this isn’t a sign of trouble but simply the way Cincinnati does business. “I think, historically, these deals with us have gotten done closer to Week 1,” Burrow said. “I signed on the Thursday before the first game (in 2023) and [Ja’Marr Chase’s] started to pick up that week before last year, too. And we were able to get [Tee Higgins] and Ja’Marr done early this year, so that was great. But I think historically the way we’ve done business is it tends to pick up here in the next two weeks, so we’ll see.” He sees the current stalemate as part of the familiar script, with deadlines serving as the real catalysts. That’s why, despite the uncertainty swirling around Trey Hendrickson, the quarterback is projecting calm. He is confident that the Bengals’ last-minute negotiation style will eventually deliver a resolution.

And why shouldn’t he be assured? After all, with eight seasons in the league, Trey Hendrickson has built a resume that speaks for itself. Across his time with both the New Orleans Saints and Bengals, he’s stacked up 151 solo tackles, 69 assists, and 77 sacks. All while earning four Pro Bowl selections. That type of consistency is why his presence looms so large in Cincinnati’s defense. And that’s why the idea of playing without him, even briefly, feels like a major setback for a unit built around his disruptive energy.