The Bengals Might Be In TROUBLE, After Maxx Crosby's Contract Extension...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses why the Cincinnati Bengals contract discussions with Trey Hendrickson might sound different after Maxx Crosby's new deal.

Transcript

00:00The latest major NFL contract extension has greatly impacted what the Bengals are going

00:04through right now, and in this video, I'll explain how one of their most common problems

00:08has cost them once again.

00:13Hi again Bengals fans, John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here, and for as much

00:17criticism as I've had about how the Bengals have managed both Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase,

00:22I don't have that same level of criticism for how they've managed Trey Hendrickson.

00:25Truthfully, I think everything that they've done since signing him originally to a four-year deal

00:29back in 2021 has been pretty spot on. They extended him for a year in 2023. They didn't

00:34give in to his trade demands after he wanted to be extended again after just one year. That was

00:39more of his beef with his old agent anyways, so I think everything that the Bengals have done with

00:43him up to this point has been pretty spot on. The problem, however, that the Bengals commonly run

00:47into, no matter how well that they've managed business with a certain player, is that the

00:51longer that they wait to pay them, the worse it ends up being for them. And in the beginning of

00:56March, even before free agency even begins, this wasn't seen as a really big problem for Trey

01:00Hendrickson, considering that he does have one year left on this contract. The Bengals have the

01:04entire offseason to theoretically get something done with him. And these talks are already well

01:08underway. Trace Camp reportedly met with the Bengals back in February after Trey made it very

01:13clear that if he doesn't get paid by the Bengals that he would like to be traded away from the

01:17team. As far as negotiating a major contract with one of their own players, the Bengals don't

01:21normally do this stuff until the summer. So doing so in February and March, they're already way

01:25ahead of their normal schedule. But again, if you wait just a little bit longer compared to when

01:30other teams actually start making these decisions and putting pen to paper, it's going to cost you.

01:35And this is why I think the Las Vegas Raiders extending Max Crosby to a three year, $106.5

01:41million extension, it's not the greatest news for the Bengals. Before this deal even became public,

01:46it was reported by the 33rd team's Ari Mirov that Trey was asking for $32 to $33 million from the

01:52Bengals and that both sides weren't necessarily there yet. But after another pass rusher who was

01:56very safely in the same tier as Trey Hendrickson signs on for a new deal worth $36.5 million a

02:02year, you have to wonder if Trey's asking price has changed a little bit. And there's reason to

02:06believe that it won't, right? Like Crosby was not the only edge rusher aside from Hendrickson

02:10looking to get paid this offseason. You're talking about TJ Watt, Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons,

02:15three guys who I think have a good argument of getting more than Hendrickson regardless.

02:18These players and agents have a much better idea of how much they're going to get paid and what

02:23their market is like way more than us on the outside do. So it's very possible that $32 to

02:27$33 million a year was already a projected price for just being right below whatever the new market

02:33level for pass rushers was going to be. But at the end of the day, a lot of that is still

02:36speculation. We don't know very much what's going on. The fact that it's a question at all,

02:40if whether or not the Bengals negotiations with Hendrickson just took a left turn because of Max

02:45Crosby's deal, that's enough of a question to make us talk about it, to discuss whether or not it

02:49matters and if it's going to negatively impact these negotiations. Because before Crosby's deal

02:53was announced, I think there was a lot of Bengals fans who would have not liked the idea of paying

02:58Trey Hendrickson a new contract worth $32 to $33 million a year. But now it doesn't look so bad in

03:03comparison, right? And if the Bengals had signed him to a deal with that number last week, it would

03:08have already looked like a bargain after Crosby got his deal. And this is the reality of every

03:13single big time contract in the history of the NFL. The only one who can't say the same is Deshaun

03:19Watson because the structure of an 100% guaranteed contract for a five-year deal that's worth $230

03:24million, that's probably never going to be replicated. But in terms of average annual

03:28value and how those numbers skyrocket every single year because of the natural yearly inflation of

03:34the cap, that's always going to be a constant. And it's something that continues to bite the

03:38Bengals in the butt because they can't get ahead of these deals because they don't offer the cash

03:43flow and guarantees that other teams like the Philadelphia Eagles offer. And all of this isn't

03:47to say that the Bengals are no longer focused on extending Trey Hendrickson because the price got

03:51too big or Hendrickson is moving on to someplace else. This is just to say that the landscape may

03:56have changed now because they just took a little bit too longer compared to their competitors per

04:01usual. And if things do end up going south in this partnership weeks down the road,

04:05we can look back to this exact moment as to where it all began.

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