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Trey Hendrickson talks contract frustration at Bengals practice: 'It's become personal'
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- Trey Hendrickson talks contract frustration at Bengals practice: 'It's become personal'
Trey Hendrickson tried staying quiet, but he's not doing that any longer.
The Cincinnati Bengals star pass-rusher can get to quarterbacks at will, but contract extensions have proven more difficult.
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He's been in search of one for the past few seasons, only to come up empty each time and was granted permission to seek a trade earlier this offseason . Now the gloves are coming off as the situation gets personal, in the eyes of Hendrickson.
The All-Pro showed up to practice on Tuesday but did not participate. Hendrickson instead began sharing his side of the story with the media, adding he won't play without a contract this season . The pass-rusher was then asked whether he wanted to remain with the Bengals .
"That's a tough question too," Hendrickson said via WPCO 9's Marshall Kramsky . "You try to not let the business become personal, I think over the last week or so it's become personal unfortunately. When there's a lack of communication in any relationship, if it's business or personal relationship, lack of communication leads to animosity. That leaves my narrative only to me with no clear direction."
Hendrickson said that lack of communication has made him think about what's going to happen, rather than how great the organization has treated him.
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He called Cincinnati his home, adding that his son was born there and his wife worked at the local Cincinnati VA.
"I think a lot of players in the past have been silent or didn't stand on values where telling the truth will set you free," Hendrickson said of his decision to start speaking out publicly. "I'm a Floridian. So there is unprovoked shark attacks and there is provoked shark attacks. The comments that are being made, whatever happened at the combine, whatever happened at the owner's meetings and the text I got yesterday, this is not something where I'm just twiddling my thumbs and thinking, 'how can I get the next one up?'"
Hendrickson said he received a text from head coach Zac Taylor , informing him that he would be fined if the four-time Pro Bowl player was absent from mandatory minicamp.
He went on to say that he wishes he could say sitting silently would be a good strategy, but it hasn't worked – though Hendrickson did highlight Ja'Marr Chase as a player it did work for.
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Chase was awarded earlier this offseason with a four-year, $161 million extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Tee Higgins was also given an extension , leaving Hendrickson as the odd man out in Cincinnati.
That eventually led to Hendrickson appearing on "The Pat McAfee Show" in early April , where he spoke on his frustration and the silence coming from the Bengals organization. His appearance on the show came as a result of some explosive comments from Bengals Vice President, Katie Blackburn.
"I think he should be happy at certain rates that maybe he doesn't think he'd be happy at," Blackburn said via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer . "I think some of it is on him to be happy at some point, and if he's not, you know, that's what holds it up sometimes. So, you know, it takes him to say yes to something, and also, we have all the respect in the world for him. He's been a great player. We're happy to have him. And so maybe we'll find a way to get something to work. We're just gonna see where it goes."
As a Floridian, Hendrickson likely knows there are plenty of fish in the sea. It's not often that the big fish like him aren't a coveted commodity.
Perhaps that's the problem with playing in landlocked Cincinnati.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Trey Hendrickson likened Bengals contract talks to 'shark attacks'
