NFL analyst believes Joe Burrow’s silence cost Trey Hendrickson a big payday with the Bengals

Joe Burrow is one of the most likable quarterbacks in the NFL. As a quarterback, he has not had to worry about securing his payday. The Cincinnati Bengals have not had a floor general of his caliber in recent history. When healthy, Burrow is a top-three quarterback in the league, and in a season where the team finished 9-8 and failed to make the playoffs, he put up MVP-worthy stats.

Apart from Joe Burrow, his teammate Ja’Marr Chase too had a record season. He finished his season with 1,708 yards and outperformed his peers across the league. One of the challenges that the Bengals faced was to retain both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins during free agency. They were able to do so by offering each a $100 million+ contract and keeping them on the roster for another four years.

Aside from Chase and Higgins’ feats, there was another key driver that earned them their payday. The constant pressure from Joe Burrow upon the Bengals front office forced the team’s hand. The quarterback wanted both of his wideouts on the roster and he was not willing to take no for an answer.

While the offensive stars enjoyed his backing, there was one player on defense who would have benefitted from Burrow’s support. Defensive end Trey Hendrickson has been the only silver lining of Cincinnati’s defense. The franchise failed this season due to their performance on defense but Hendrickson will never forget this year for it was the best of his career.

He has one more year left on his contract and has been attempting to seek an extension to stay in Cincinnati. However, with most of their cap space invested in their offense, the Bengals cannot retain Hendrickson which is why they accepted his request to seek a trade. It is unfortunate to see Hendrickson leave and Joe Burrow not backing him did impact his chance of securing a contract to stay in Cincinnati.

Trey Hendrickson is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL

ESPN’s Bart Scott believes that Burrow is to blame for Hendrickson leaving and that the quarterback’s silence was the equivalent of him “spitting” in the defensive end’s face.

His statement has some truth to it because Burrow knows what Hendrickson means to the defense and the impact he has.

However, Burrow is not the general manager of the team. Just because he vouches for a player to stay does not mean that the Bengals will be able to keep them on board. The quarterback went to the ends of the earth to advocate for Higgins and Chase to be extended because they make his life easier, he has great chemistry with them and has a personal bond with them. Losing either of them would be nothing short of catastrophic for him.

While it is hard to comment on the relationship that Hendrickson and Burrow share off the field, they have a sense of mutual respect and admiration for one another’s game. It could be possible that Burrow attempted to talk to the front office regarding Hendrickson’s request but the team expressed their helplessness over it. If Burrow had to choose between Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson, he would opt to keep the offensive players and let the defensive player go.

The impact that Hendrickson had on the defense cannot be understated. He is one of the best pass rushers in the game and deserves to be paid for that. However, consider this. Hendrickson had the best year of his career yet the Bengals defense was one of the worst in the NFL. It is only fair to assume that Cincinnati believes they can sign multiple defensive players with the money that they would have had to offer Hendrickson otherwise.

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