Bengals in danger of losing Trey Hendrickson soon, says former NFL defensive lineman

Billy Heyen

Bengals in danger of losing Trey Hendrickson soon, says former NFL defensive lineman image

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The Trey Hendrickson saga hasn't gotten figured out yet.

The Cincinnati Bengals and their star pass rusher are still in a stalemate. No contract extension has been agreed upon yet.

The longer it drags on, the more negative things look. Hendrickson is due to play this season for $16 million, and he has made it clear he doesn't want to do that.

ESPN's Marcus Spears, the former NFL defensive lineman for the Cowboys, lent his thoughts to the situation on Thursday. 

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Spears joined The Pat McAfee Show and had plenty to say.

"I think this is for sure the last year for Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati," Spears said

The implication there is that Spears believes the negotiations simply haven't gone well enough to make Hendrickson actually want to sign a long-term deal in Cincy.

"He has been in a contract dispute forever, and the Bengals should have paid this man," Spears added. "I'm sure another team would love his services."

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Spears went on to offer a foreboding prediction for how Cincinnati's season might go.

"Joe Burrow and that offense is gonna have to score 45 points a game to win," Spears said.

There were games last year when that was true, and Hendrickson was on the field for those contests.

If his hold-in continues with no new contract, Hendrickson will be setting up the Bengals to be even worse defensively, which won't be pretty.

Yeah, every aspect of this situation has grown quite ugly.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle