Trey Hendrickson will not be reporting for the start of the Cincinnati Bengals’ preseason preparations this week as he continues to press for a lucrative new contract.

With the bar continually being raised in terms of pass rusher paydays, Hendrickson sees contemporaries like AFC North rivals T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett resetting expectations for elite players at the position — something 30-year-old Hendrickson clearly believes he is after leading the NFL in sacks last season by matching his 17.5 total from 2023 — and wants the Bengals to compensate him accordingly. Watt, the most recent to sign a new deal, is due to receive $123m over three years, with Garrett (4yrs / $160m) not far behind. With Micah Parsons expected to — eventually — be re-signed by the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati could find themselves looking at an even higher number if a deal can’t be struck soon.

It’s not that the team doesn’t want to stump up to keep its best defensive player on the books either, but the semantics of the deal — in terms of both financial and duration aspects — continue to keep the two sides apart.

Hendrickson still has a year to run on his existing contract, which is scheduled to pay $16m in base salary this season, and could be heavily fined if he is a no-show for training camp, which starts Wednesday (23^rd July). Although he does not have to take part in any activities in camp, as his mere presence is all that is required to avoid financial penalty, the former New Orleans Saints draft pick chose instead to post pictures from Florida on his social media feeds. Given that he has already said that he is prepared to sit out the entire 2025 campaign if his demands aren’t met, it would appear the an appearance at training camp is highly unlikely.

“Trey is an important part of our team, and he’s under contract,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin told the media as the team prepared for the start of camp. “We expect all of our guys under contract to be here, [but] I can’t speak for him.

“He’s earned a raise and an extension, and we’ll continue to see if we can come together on something. Having good players is a good problem to have — and we’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of highly-paid players — and fitting it together is what we’re working for.”

The Bengals have already forked out large deals to wide receiver duo Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this offseason, and Hendrickson insists that he has no desire to be the highest-paid player at his position, but with first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart also yet to agree terms with the team, there is much for Tobin and the front office to get done before the season starts.

“There’s always urgency,” Tobin said. “We’d like to get something done. I wouldn’t have said we wanted to give him a raise and an extension if I wasn’t serious about it. Whether it happens early or late, I don’t know, but, right now, he’s a part of our football team — and I think that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit.”