Bengals and Trey Hendrickson are still talking ‘back and forth’ on extension

Can the Bengals and their best pass rusher get a deal done before the season?

The Cincinnati Bengals are looking to get a contract extension done with pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. He is the final remaining domino now that Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have been extended. Also, first-round pick Shemar Stewart finally agreed to his contract.

Last we heard, the Bengals’ front office was optimistic that a deal was on the horizon, only for Hendrickson to post that he was in Florida and make it known that the guaranteed money was not close to acceptable. It is fair to wonder where that left things, given how slowly Cincinnati can move in these situations.

However, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero shared an update (about four minutes into the video):

The dialogue between both sides has been ongoing, a positive sign. It seems the sticking point is the same one that the Bengals always run into, which is guaranteed money beyond the first year of the contract.

Hendrickson has plenty of pull here. Cincinnati is under a lot of pressure to win now. That means a defense — that they didn’t really do too much to revamp in the offseason — playing at an average level. That makes Hendrickson and his 17.5 sacks the most important thing to reaching that goal right now.

A player on the wrong side of 30 has rarely had this much leverage against the Bengals, and it could be a situation where they just have to suck it up and give Hendrickson what he wants.