Trey Hendrickson trade rumors: Breaking down whether 2024 NFL sack leader will play for Bengals in Week 1

CINCINNATI -- It's been seven months since the 2024 season ended for the Cincinnati Bengals and the team's contract drama with Trey Hendrickson is officially right back where it started. 

Back in March, Hendrickson requested a trade after the Bengals wouldn't meet his contract demands and although nothing came of the request, he's back on the trade block, because the team is now listening to offers for their star pass-rusher, according to NFL Media.

Less than one month ago, it seemed like they had totally ruled out the possibility of a trade. In his annual pre-training camp interview on July 22, Bengals owner Mike Brown gave a very definitive answer when asked if his team might deal away Hendrickson. 

"We aren't going to trade Trey," Brown said at the time. "We're working to get Trey signed as we speak here."

Hendrickson didn't report to training camp with the rest of the team on July 22, but he did eventually show up eight days later. After he reported on July 30, there was some hope on both sides that a deal would quickly get done. However, that optimism has slowly been fading with each passing day. 

The 2024 NFL sack leader has been a constant at each Bengals practice at training camp, and every day, he does virtually the same thing: He watches the defensive line closely and helps out in any way he can. As a matter of fact, if Hendrickson wants a raise, he might want to ask the Bengals to start paying him as an assistant coach, because that's essentially what he's been doing since arriving at camp. 

Although Hendrickson has been talkative at practice, he wasn't in the mood to answer any questions about his contract this week. CBS Sports asked Hendrickson on Tuesday (Aug. 12) whether he felt more or less optimistic about getting a new contract done after being in training camp for  two weeks and he gave a very short answer. 

"I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself on that," the Bengals star said. 

Hendrickson didn't exactly paint a picture of optimism with his answer, but he did say he would be ready to play in Week 1 as long as a new deal gets done before Sept. 7, when the Bengals travel to Cleveland for their regular-season opener. 

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 Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, so what Hendrickson is asking for isn't unprecedented. 

In late July, Hendrickson told former NFL linebacker Manti Te'o that the offer from Cincinnati was "atrociously low" when it comes to guaranteed money and it doesn't seem like things have changed. 

When Hendrickson reported to camp back on July 30 -- after racking up $50,000 per missed day in fines -- he was asked about the state of his contract negotiations with the team. 

"Things are exactly the same," Hendrickson said of where contract talks were in late July compared to early June. 

It was an interesting answer, especially when you consider that just one week earlier, Brown had sounded optimistic about getting a deal done. 

"I think we're in a good spot," Brown said of negotiations on July 22. "I hope this thing comes together soon. I'm just going to leave it at that."

Twenty-six days later, the deal still hasn't come together. 

The highest-paid pass rusher (Watt) is now making $41 million per year, but Hendrickson isn't looking to get that type of money. Although he led the NFL in sacks last season with 17.5, he doesn't want to be the highest-paid non-quarterback, but it's pretty clear that he wants a substantial raise that would more than double his base salary for 2025, which is scheduled to be $15.8 million (Back in mid-May, Pro Football Talk reported that the Bengals have offered up to $28 million per year and it's unknown whether that offer has changed much since then). 

The Bengals have some leverage, because Hendrickson is under contract for 2025, so if he sits out any regular-season games, then he'll miss out on a $877,777 paycheck for every game that he's out, but that seems to be money that Hendrickson is willing to sacrifice. He's already said that he won't play this year under his current deal, so something is going to have to happen soon or the drama is going to ramp up as we get closer to the regular season. 

For Hendrickson, his leverage comes from the fact that the Bengals absolutely need him. In Cincinnati's preseason opener against Philadelphia, the first-team defense got gashed up by the Eagles' second-team offense in a 34-27 loss. 

Both sides have plenty of incentive to get a deal done that would involve Hendrickson staying in Cincinnati. For the Bengals, they can't afford another slow start. Last season, Ja'Marr Chase sat out all of training camp and it showed as the Bengals offense struggled in a shocking 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 1. 

Overall, the Bengals are 0-6 in the first two weeks of the season dating to 2022, so this is a team that needs to avoid getting off to a slow start. Getting Hendrickson under contract sooner rather than later -- and not trading him -- would certainly help a defense that can't afford to be missing its biggest star once the games start counting. 

Burrow is in his prime and if the Bengals want to put the best roster they can around him, that would have to include getting Hendrickson on the field as soon as possible.  

If a trade is going to happen, another team is going to have to meet the Bengals' sky-high asking price. According to NFL Media, the Bengals want a "young player" along with a future draft pick. The Bengals almost certainly wouldn't make a deal unless they could acquire a player who's going to contribute significantly for them this year. It still seems unlikely that Hendrickson will be traded, but it certainly could happen, so we decided to take a look at a few landing spots and you can check those out here.