The Cincinnati Bengals are in the middle of a very strange season. After losing Joe Burrow for 10 weeks, the Bengals are still somehow in the AFC North division race. But for star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, this season has been a massively disappointing one.
Coming into the year with a contract dispute, he couldn't get the long-term deal he was seeking, instead signing a one-year, $29 million contract. Now, sitting on the bench due to an injury, his future is very much up in the air.
ESPN insider Bill Barnwell noted Hendrickson as one of the players with the most at stake for the rest of the 2025 season. Unfortunately for Hendrickson, there's a bleak $12.6 million future that awaits him if things don't improve the rest of the future.
How Trey Hendrickson faces bleak $12.6 million future
"If he can make it back before the end of the season and look like his old self," Barnwell writes, "there should be significant interest in free agency for a player who created nearly twice as many sacks as any other player in football for himself and his teammates in 2024."
Returning to play and proving himself in the final few weeks of the season would be great for Hendrickson. However, that's not the only future that could await the All-Pro pass rusher.
"If he misses the rest of the season, though," Barnwell writes, "he will probably be looking at a one-year deal in the range of the $12.6 million that Joey Bosa signed in Buffalo."
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Compared to his current $29 million deal, and the potential he'd be missing out on if he were fully healthy and playing at a solid level this season, a $12.6 million deal would be a massive disappointment.
Part of the issue for Hendrickson is that he's not healthy enough to come back. As he sits on the bench, dealing with a hip injury, his return doesn't seem imminent.
He was listed as doubtful early in the week once again, and if he can't return in Week 14, he will have just four weeks, barring a miracle playoff spot, to prove he's worth more than $12.6 million.
After a 17.5 sack season in 2024, Hendrickson's 2025 has been a massive letdown. With only five weeks left, things are looking bleak for Hendrickson, especially if he can't come back.
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