Joe Burrow responds to Trey Hendrickson trade rumors: Why the Bengals QB isn't worried just yet

With less than three weeks to go until the start of the 2025 season, it's still unclear if Trey Hendrickson is going to suit up for the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 or if he's even going to be playing for them. 

Hendrickson and the Bengals have spent all of training camp trying to get a new contract done, but so far, the two sides haven't been able to make that happen. With negotiations stuck in a stalemate, the Bengals have started listening to trade offers for Hendrickson, but so far, things have been quiet. 

At this point, no one seems to know whether Hendrickson will get a deal done with the Bengals or get traded, but as things stand right now, Joe Burrow doesn't seem very worried about the situation.  

After the Bengals' 31-17 win over the Washington Commanders on Monday, Burrow was asked how confident he was that Hendrickson would get a deal done, and he went on to explain why he's not getting worked up over what's happening. 

"I think, historically, these deals with us have gotten done closer to Week 1," Burrow said. "I signed on the Thursday before the first game (in 2023) and [Ja'Marr Chase's] started to pick up that week before last year, too. And we were able to get [Tee Higgins] and Ja'Marr done early this year, so that was great. But I think historically the way we've done business is it tends to pick up here in the next two weeks, so we'll see."

Basically, Burrow isn't worried yet, because the Bengals front office has a tendency to wait until the last second to get their deals done. Deadlines tend to spur action, and the Bengals have a long history of getting deals done at the last minute. 

• In 2015, the Bengals got a deal done with star receiver A.J. Green just two days before the start of the season. 
• On Aug. 28, 2018, Geno Atkins agreed to a new four-year, $65.3 million deal that, at the time, made him the highest-paid non-quarterback over the age of 30 in NFL history. Atkins never quite lived up to the deal, which could be one reason why the Bengals are hesitant to commit big money to the 30-year-old Hendrickson. 
• in 2023, Burrow signed his $255 million contract on Sept. 7, just three days before the team's Sept. 10 opener. 

The Bengals love to wait until the last second, and if that happens this time around, then they still have just over two weeks to get a deal done.

Trey Hendrickson landing spots: Ranking best fits for Bengals star with team listening to trade offers

Cody Benjamin

The big issue that's holding up the deal is the amount of guaranteed money. According to ESPN, the Bengals are only offering one year of fully guaranteed pay while other pass rushers -- like Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt -- have been given three years of guaranteed money. It's been the Bengals' standard for years to only hand out one year of guaranteed pay, but they have deviated from that structure for several star players, including Burrow and Chase, so what Hendrickson is asking for isn't unprecedented. 

Burrow has been very clear this entire offseason that the Bengals need to get a deal done with Hendrickson. 

"He's a guy who deserves to get paid and get paid what he wants and what the market is," Burrow said back in May. 

With the team's star quarterback firmly in his corner, the Bengals would be playing with fire if they were to trade Hendrickson. The bottom line is that Burrow doesn't seem to be worried about the situation yet, so Bengals fans might want to take a cue from him and let things play out. If Hendrickson doesn't have a new deal by Sept. 6, then everyone in Cincinnati might want to start worrying.