Bengals' Contract Talks With Trey Hendrickson Heat Up: Trade Still Possible?

This offseason has been busy for the Cincinnati Bengals They conducted a search for a coordinator and worked out agreements to retain their top two wide receivers in the Queen City.

Now, they are focusing on attempting to reach an agreement with defensive end Trey Hendrickson.

In recent weeks, discussions about the stalled negotiations have dominated conversations, causing both the fans and the NFL to ponder what the future holds for this situation.

Based on information from NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, the Bengals are still trying to secure their top defensive player for signing.

During his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rapoport discussed the Bengals' intention to keep Hendrickson.

Yeah, things are quite disorganized," Rapoport stated. "I think the Bengals want to retain him and compensate him appropriately to make it function. They aren’t interested in parting ways with talented players, which is why even after granting him clearance for a potential trade, their top choice remains signing and paying him. It will be interesting to observe whether this unfolds as planned. In my view, there’s a strong possibility of it happening. If everything does align accordingly, regardless of the current chaos, it could turn out to be an exceptionally positive off-season for Cincinnati.

However, Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline provided a significantly differing account in his own Hendrickson update. , proposing a trade remained quite possible if the Bengals use their first-round pick on an edge rusher.

" numerous people have told me that the Bengals are likely to take an edge rusher with the 17th overall pick, followed by trading Trey Hendrickson either during the draft weekend or shortly after completing all seven rounds," Pauline stated.

The negotiations appear to have a considerable distance yet before reaching completion, but here’s hoping the management team can secure an extension without being compelled to trade any of their top four talents.

Securing Hendrickson with a long-term contract extension would place this squad in an excellent spot to contend for championships in the upcoming seasons.

Now we just have to wait and observe.