Bengals exec, owner give updates on Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart contracts
The training camp stage of the 2025 NFL offseason is here. Teams across the league are returning to the field ahead of preseason action which kicks off in less than two weeks.
A few players have not reported to camp yet, most notably the NFL's reigning sack leader, Trey Hendrickson.
The Cincinnati Bengals' edge rusher is holding out for a new contract entering the final year of an extension he signed in July 2023. The team gave him permission to seek a trade earlier this offseason but no deal has come about.
Bengals de facto general manager Duke Tobin provided an update on Hendrickson on July 21 - one day ahead of when veterans are expected to report to training camp.
"Trey is an important part of our team," Tobin said. "He's under contract and we expect him to be here... He's a guy who has been very valuable. He has earned a raise and extension. We'll see if we can come together on something.”
Tobin said he expects Hendrickson to report for training camp on July 22.
Bengals owner Mike Brown said the team is working to find a deal both sides can agree on.
"We have people back in our office who are sharpening their pencils and trying to figure that out as I speak here," he said.
"Trey Hendrickson is a fine player and a good guy. We want him here. Dealing with him is sometimes not so easy. That's all right. He's got the right to argue his case, we'll try to make sense of it from our perspective... as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better."
Brown also emphasized that the franchise will not trade Hendrickson.
“We are not going to trade Trey," Brown told reporters. "We are working on getting it done... We've been through a few — and he pushes hard, he gets emotional. We never have an easy time of it. And if there's one thing that is consistent, it always gets done. I think this one will too.”
Shemar Stewart contract update
In addition to the Hendrickson negotiations, Cincinnati is in ongoing talks with its top pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, Shemar Stewart.
Stewart is currently the only unsigned first-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft. Tobin and Brown both provided updates on the situation.
"I don't blame Shemar," Tobin said. "He’s listening to the advice he’s paying for. I don’t understand the advice… We’re treating him fairly."
In these negotiations, Cincinnati is attempting to change the language of the rookie contract so they could potentially void future guarantees. Stewart's representation is seeking the same language the Bengals have used for prior first-round picks.
Stewart has yet to report to rookie training camp which began on July 18.
"I hesitate to get into the details but basically it turns on whether out years are guaranteed if he gets involved in conduct detrimental to football," Brown told reporters. "Detrimental to football in recent years has been violence to women, that's the one that comes to mind.
If we get a player who gets involved in something like that or does something that is just unacceptable, guess what? I don't want to pay him. I really don't. If he's sitting in jail, I don't think I ought to be paying him."
Brown stated that the team is looking for language to allow for voided future guarantees if Stewart were to be involved in conduct deemed detrimental to football. Brown said Stewart's representation is arguing that the only guarantees that should be voided are for the season in which the conduct occurs.
"Oddly, something like this has never occurred in my memory with us," Brown said. "I don't think it's going to occur, so we're sitting here arguing over something that I think is pretty remote and I ask myself sometimes why the hell we're doing it, but we are.
At some point we've got to put this stuff behind and just get him signed."