Bengals contract drama: Cincinnati may be a title contender, but money issues keep distracting franchise

This goes well beyond Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart

The grass is green. The sun is bright. What else marks summer in the NFL? Oh, that's right, the Cincinnati Bengals refusing to spend money. Now we're talking.

Mandatory minicamps are wrapping up around the league, and the headlining discussion about the Bengals isn't Joe Burrow coming off an NFL-leading 43-touchdown season. It's not Ja'Marr Chase coming off an NFL-leading 1,708-yard receiving season. Or Al Golden taking over the defense. Or Cincinnati's chances of outlasting the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in the hunt for AFC glory.

It's money. It always is in Cincinnati. And not for the right reasons.

This should've been the offseason of celebration for Bengals brass. After all, the front office finally paid Chase and Tee Higgins, investing in Burrow's top playmakers with not only words but actions. This was the Bengals' big pivot, from reluctant spenders to willing championship hunters! Except, months later, we're right back to square one with a notoriously -- dare we say dangerously -- frugal organization.

Trey Hendrickson, the most accomplished player left on the Bengals' otherwise-iffy defense, fresh off back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons as one of the game's premier quarterback chasers, is embroiled in a years-long standoff over his contract. Signed in 2021 and extended in 2023, he's not hurting for money. He's also clearly underpaid by current edge-rusher standards -- hence his holdout from mandatory minicamp and multiple trade requests over the last two seasons. Worse yet, he's publicly accused Bengals leadership, from coaches to executives, of retreating from previous promises to reward his prolific on-field production.

Look, maybe there's a case for the Bengals to play hardball with Hendrickson. The guy is 30-years-old, he wants big bucks, and the team has already renewed Burrow, Chase and Higgins on lucrative deals in the last two years. But if the Bengals weren't sold on keeping Hendrickson for the long term, then why on Earth didn't they try to sell the pass rusher early in the 2025 offseason, when plenty of clubs were eager for a proven sack artist and had immediate draft capital to offer? You're telling us the Detroit Lions, who reportedly considered a trade up in the first round for an Aidan Hutchinson partner, wouldn't have floated an early-rounder for Hendrickson? Or the Arizona Cardinals, who spent all offseason addressing their front?

Agent's Take: Inside the Bengals' contract issues with Trey Hendrickson and why there's no clear end in sight

Joel Corry

The prolonged saga is exacerbated by the glaring absence of the guy the Bengals seemingly drafted to replace Hendrickson: first-rounder Shemar Stewart, who skipped spring workouts and then left mandatory minicamp over failed talks to finalize his rookie contract. And get this: Stewart, like Hendrickson, made it personal as well, suggesting to reporters that the Bengals -- the franchise that just made his NFL dreams come true in April -- "just want to win arguments [more] than [win] more games."

Asked about Stewart's situation afterward, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor could only offer this: "There's a first for everything." He then declined to put a timeline on the rookie's return to work. Real inspiring!

Will these disputes matter in the long run? It's debatable. We've seen contract issues get ugly before they get brighter, and sometimes a messy public dynamic ends up producing a more fruitful behind-the-scenes resolution, weird as it may sound.

Consider that Lamar Jackson, the two-time NFL MVP quarterback of the rival Baltimore Ravens, literally requested a trade from his team during stagnant extension talks in March 2023, only to turn around and ink a $260 million contract with the Ravens a month later. Odds are, both Hendrickson and Stewart will eventually suit up for the Bengals with completed or revised contracts.

The concerning part is that the Bengals are a magnet for the kind of drawn-out drama that precedes financial compromises. And while a Hendrickson holdout doesn't change the fact Burrow will still be airing it out to Chase on fall Sundays, it's also not ideal that guys like Burrow have to spend their entire offseason publicly toeing the line between support for fellow players and defense of oft-maligned team management. At the end of the day, 89-year-old billionaire Bengals owner Mike Brown can spend his money as he pleases. He should just know that Burrow -- the man he's paying $55 million per year, the man he's banking on bringing a Super Bowl title to Cincinnati -- sees all of this avoidable.

"Of course," Burrow told reporters, when asked if Hendrickson's minicamp holdout is a distraction. "Of course. Last year we had two. This year we have one. So we do have less. You'd love to have none."

History of Bengals holdouts (since 2009)

Season	Player	Issue	Result
2025	Trey Hendrickson	Minicamp holdout	TBD
2025	Shemar Stewart	OTAs, minicamp absence	TBD
2024	Ja'Marr Chase	Training camp hold-in	Extended in March of 2025
2024	Tee Higgins	Minicamp holdout	Extended in March of 2025
2023	Joe Burrow	Eligible for extension	Extended in September
2009	Andre Smith	Training camp holdout	Signed in August

The Bengals, of course, always have one. That's the whole deal here. Financial dealings aren't always smooth sailing in the NFL. Burrow is smart enough to know that; after all, he had to wait until three days before the 2023 season to secure the long-term contract for which he was eligible that year. At some point, however, even money doesn't do enough talking to these players. At some point, you run the risk of tarnishing trust between player and team in the lead-up to the splashy new (and usually overdue) contract. You alienate your core talents before hoping the delayed check will tide them over. And if none of that, then you cloud your entire offseason by inviting unending questions about who's not there rather than who is.

The offensive star power the Bengals have paid (finally) might well be enough to lift them to meaningful victories and render the entire conversation moot, at least temporarily. We haven't even touched on the deeper history of Cincinnati's operations, however: the long-criticized team facilities that have only recently received fuller renovations, the old "Carl Pickens clause" designed to fine players who spoke critically of the franchise, the unceremonious exits by team greats like quarterback Carson Palmer.

All of it together unfortunately spells a team that too often makes headlines for its cold dealings than its championship results and relationships. There's always time for a turnaround; just look at the Washington Commanders, long derided as a laughingstock of the NFL but in just one year under totally new management became a league-wide darling and title contender. For Bengals fans, however, plus important players like Hendrickson and Stewart, the clock just keeps ticking.