As all Cincinnati Bengals fans sit and wait to see what happens with star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, the Pittsburgh Steelers just gave T.J. Watt a massive $123 million contract extension on Thursday.
Watt and Hendrickson are both 30 years old, and despite not getting the national attention, Hendrickson has more sacks (35) than Watt (30.5) over the last two seasons. It is safe to say that Hendrickson’s camp kept a close eye on Watt’s negotiations.
What will the Bengals give Hendrickson? Michael Ginnitti
of Spotrac.com projected a three-year, $115.5 million deal with $100 million guaranteed.
Based on the market, that appears to be a fair deal for a player of Hendrickson’s caliber, but of course, the Bengals would have to be comfortable with that number, which we’ve seen essentially no indication that they are.
Hendrickson doesn’t appear to be willing to play on his $16 million salary this season, and with the first training camp practice set for July 23rd, time is running out if the Bengals want Hendrickson on the field Day 1.
Hendrickson was fined more than $100,000 for missing mandatory minicamp in June and could be subject to more fines should he skip training camp practices.
With T.J. Watt's deal now on the books (and Micah Parsons' looming), the calculated value for Trey Hendrickson's extension from the #Bengals has increased to:
— Spotrac (@spotrac) July 18, 2025
3 years, $115.5M
$38.5M APY
$100M guaranteed
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