Bengals Defensive End Will Not Attend Mandatory Minicamps
The offseason continues around the league, and things are heating up. Nearly all 32 teams are getting ready to move into the next phase of the offseason. This coming week, many teams will be moving into mandatory mini-camps. This is the time of the year when all players must return to the field and join in practices for the upcoming season. There is no option for any players on any of the teams. If players are contracted to show up, they have to. In the Bengals' case, they are still dealing with a dispute with one of their star players, defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
The issue is that the Bengals and Hendrickson are going through a contract dispute. At the moment, Hendrickson is not thrilled with his current contract and wants a raise from the $16 million that he is currently scheduled to make this coming off-season. The Bengals also permitted him to seek a trade earlier in the offseason. He’s in the final year of his contract with the current franchise and wants a lot more than he is making now. The two parties are currently at a standstill, and negotiations have not gone any further at the moment.
As a retaliation for the negotiation being at a standstill between the two parties, Hendrickson has stated that he will not attend this year's mandatory minicamps. The last time the team saw him attend a practice was at the beginning of May, but he came as a spectator and did not participate. While there, he told the team's head coach, Zac Taylor, that he would not attend mandatory minicamps if the holdout continued. That said, with Hendrickson not showing up to mandatory minicamps, he will be fined $104,768 if he misses all three days that he is required to show up. At that point, decisions will have to be made about him before the preseason and the regular season, which starts in September. Never mind the training camp that will occur in July. The two parties will need to try and work better with each other before things escalate even further than they already have.
The Bengals have done the best they can to keep their team stars together. They have others that they have been able to work with, such as Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, and several others. However, this may be the breaking point between them and Hendrickson. Hendrickson may be back on the market before the season even starts. He has threatened to hold out for the last several years, but this may be the final straw for the Bengals.
