Joe Burrow Drops Cryptic Hint on Bengals’ Mysterious Week 1 Deal-Making Strategy Involving Trey Hendrickson

Negotiations between the Bengals and defensive end Trey Hendrickson have been simmering, but the clock’s ticking louder than ever as Week 1 looms. Joe Burrow, ever the realist, knows this drill all too well—Bengals deals typically ramp up just before the season kicks off. He remembers signing his own contract mere days ahead of opening night, and watching the conversations around J’Marr Chase pick up steam right around that same crunch time last year. Sure, locking down Tee Higgins and Chase early this season felt like a win, but history tells us this franchise likes to dance closer to the edge when it comes to roster moves. Here’s where it gets tricky: Hendrickson missed offseason workouts and camp reps—he can’t just ink a new deal on a Saturday and expect to hit the field on Sunday ready to rock. So, if the Bengals want him primed to help snap that sluggish start Burrow’s seen far too often, they’d better seal the deal sooner rather than later. Frankly, the time to hustle is now—not a second later. LEARN MORE

And while the NFL is a deadline-driven business, the deadline when a player is holding in shouldn’t be Week 1. It should be tied to the practical deadline for getting the player ready to go for Week 1.Will the Bengals and defensive end Trey Hendrickson get a deal done? Quarterback Joe Burrow realizes that the team has a history of ramping up talks as the regular season approaches.Hendrickson skipped the offseason program. He hasn’t practiced during training camp. He can’t just sign a contract on Saturday and suit up and play on Sunday.“I think historically, these deals with us have gotten done closer to Week 1,” Burrow told reporters after Monday night’s preseason game against Washington, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I signed on the Thursday before the first game. J’Marr [Chase’s talks] started to pick up, you know, that week before last year, too. We were able to Tee [Higgins] and J’Marr early this year, so that was great. But I think historically, the way we’ve done business is and that tends to pick up here in the next two weeks, so we’ll see.”Burrow’s preference comes through in the answer. It’s “great” to get the deals done early, like the Bengals did with Higgins and Chase.

How about, you know, now?So when should they be getting it done, in order to have him ready to help the Bengals get off to the kind of fast start they haven’t enjoyed during Burrow’s career?