Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Bengals are being cheap as hell. It’s another banner offseason for the low-cost leaders of the NFL, with standout defensive end Trey Hendrickson officially holding out as he didn’t report to minicamp on Tuesday.
The Bengals are the Dollar General of the NFL
Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart are learning the Bengals are cheap as hell.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Hendrickson, who led the NFL in sacks last season with 17.5 has been looking for new contract after being criminally underpaid for the majority of his career. Originally a third round pick in New Orleans, Hendrickson came to Cincinnati in 2021 on a 4 year, $60M deal which made him the 11th-highest paid player at his position. Even after restructuring in 2023 he failed to crack the top-5 in pay at defensive end, and in 2025 he was set to be the ninth highest paid DE — despite ranking 1st and 2nd in sacks in back-to-back years.
On some level you can understand Cincinnati’s hesitation in throwing huge money at a 30-year-old defensive end, but also ... no you can’t. They’re being stupid and cheap as hell.
As it stands the Bengals have over $27M in available cap space. This includes the $21M already earmarked for Hendrickson. It would be extremely easy to pay him his market value and remain under the cap, yet the team hasn’t budged that they don’t want to pay him what he’s worth. To make matters worse, Hendrickson isn’t the only holdout in minicamp, with the Bengals being the only team in the NFL not to have their 1st round pick signed, also because of money.
Signing a rookie is the easiest thing in the world, and yet Cincinnati is making things difficult by trying to add a new clause into Stewart’s contract that would allow them to void any future guaranteed money in the event of a “default” — which is essentially a breach of contract, like holding out. This is coupled with the fact that the Bengals have a reputation for giving out lower-than-market rates in signing bonuses for rookies, and compounded by the reality that no other recent contracts the Bengals have given includes this language.
So, in short:
- The Bengals don’t want to give Stewart a league-standard signing bonus
- The Bengals want Stewart to accept more restrictive contractual language
- The Bengals want to ensure Stewart can’t complain about it in the future
Even shorter: They’re cheap as hell.
Cincinnati wants to establish a new normal inside their organization where rookie deals are even worse for new players entering the league. Meanwhile they also refuse to pay standout players who perform for them, right until the point they’re about to lose them — then they get a deal like Tee Higgins.
Owner Mike Brown is worth $3.9B.
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