Subscribe
Follow Us
It wasn’t supposed to go this way for the Cincinnati Bengals. Just a few short seasons ago, they were the NFL’s freshest contender. This was a gritty, high-powered team that surged to the Super Bowl in 2021 and seemed poised to dominate the AFC for years to come. However, football’s margins are razor-thin. A season-ending injury to Joe Burrow in 2023 derailed one campaign. In 2024, even with Burrow healthy and producing at an MVP level, the Bengals couldn’t find their way back to the playoffs. A loaded offense and a dominant pass rush were wasted. It left fans with more questions than answers.
Now, as 2025 training camp opens, the Bengals are staring down a pivotal moment. This is no longer a team on the rise. This is a veteran squad in its competitive prime. They have a healthy Burrow, a peak Ja’Marr Chase, and a defensive unit led by one of the league’s best edge rushers. The pieces are there, but the window is narrowing. Unless Cincinnati addresses its most urgent roster dilemma, this team could miss its best chance yet at winning the AFC.
No More Excuses
Can the Bengals become a playoff team again? Last year represented a major missed opportunity for Cincinnati. Despite career years from Burrow, Chase, and Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals still failed to return to the postseason for a second consecutive year. The frustration inside the building is real and understandable.
Cincinnati has all the makings of a title contender. Burrow is one of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL when healthy. Chase is an All-Pro-caliber weapon. The defense, rebuilt after the departure of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell in recent years, still features enough talent to compete. That said, good rosters don’t guarantee playoff success. The Bengals are stuck in limbo—not rebuilding, but not delivering. That’s a dangerous place to be in the NFL.
Training camp is their chance to course-correct. They’ve revamped the offensive line and added new depth pieces across the defense. But one unresolved issue could blow the whole thing up.
Fix the Trey Hendrickson Situation Now
Trey Hendrickson isn’t just a vital piece of the Bengals’ defense. He is the Bengals’ defense. The 30-year-old edge rusher has recorded a staggering 35 sacks over the last two seasons, including a career-high 17.5 in 2024. He has outplayed his contract by every imaginable metric. Now, as Cincinnati prepares for the most important camp of the Burrow era, Hendrickson isn’t just holding out. He’s left town entirely.
Hendrickson has reprtedly relocated from Cincinnati to Jacksonville, Florida, to avoid being a distraction as his holdout continues. It’s not just about money. It’s about respect, security, and alignment. Hendrickson wants a deal with guarantees that reflect his market value. He’s entering the final year of his deal, set to earn $15.8 million. That's well below what his peers are commanding on the open market. Players like Brian Burns and Josh Hines-Allen have inked deals with guarantees north of $40 million. Hendrickson isn’t demanding to reset the market. he just wants something that shows the Bengals are committed to him beyond 2025.
Cincinnati’s front office reportedly offered two different contracts in a 24-hour span. Neither included long-term guarantees though. Hendrickson, to his credit, has said he’s willing to negotiate and make concessions. So far, however, there’s no deal in sight. The longer this standoff continues, the more damage it does.
A Problem Too Big to Ignore
Hendrickson’s absence isn’t just symbolic. It’s structural. The Bengals don’t have a comparable replacement on the roster. Sam Hubbard is solid but not dominant. Rookie edge rushers rarely make immediate Pro Bowl-level impacts. The Bengals need Hendrickson on the field. They need him not just in Week 1, but in August.
Beyond his pass-rushing impact, Hendrickson brings attitude, leadership, and urgency to a defense that too often looked listless in key moments last year. He plays with a fire that few players match. Without him, the Bengals risk losing their defensive edge. That's both literally and figuratively speaking.
More importantly, Cincinnati is sending the wrong message to its locker room. Burrow is under contract. Ditto with Chase and Higgins. That said, if one of the team’s best performers can’t get rewarded when he clearly deserves it, what does that say to everyone else?
This is a make-or-break year. Super Bowl windows don’t last forever, and the AFC is stacked with elite teams. The Bengals cannot afford self-inflicted wounds. That's even more now because they have the talent to go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, or Texans. Letting Hendrickson’s holdout drag into the preseason would be exactly that.
Close the Deal, Chase the Dream
The solution is simple: just pay the man.
Cincinnati can structure a contract that protects them long term while giving Hendrickson the guarantees he’s earned. This doesn’t have to be contentious. It just has to be resolved. Every day he’s away is a day this defense loses momentum and chemistry. Every practice he misses increases the risk of a slow start to the season.
Training camp is about building a championship team. And the Bengals can’t do that while their best defensive player is training alone in Florida.
