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Report: Bengals 'Little Bit Open' to Trey Hendrickson Trade Discussions

CINCINNATI — The Bengals don't want to trade Trey Hendrickson, but The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov noted this week they are getting more open to the idea amidst contract extension talks that are "far apart."

Hendrickson is set to make $16 million in 2025 and wants to be near the top of the market on a new contract in the $32-33 million range.

"They're very far apart," Meirov noted about the Hendrickson negotiations on the Check The Mic podcast. "A couple of weeks ago, I would have said there's no chance he gets traded. I think the possibility is out there, like if they're able to get a crazy, crazy offer for him, I think they'd be willing to listen. They don't want to trade him. They want to keep him, but now their ears are a little bit open when it comes to that situation.

"The number has to be $32-33 million per year in order to make it happen. He has one year and $16 million left. He knows his value. He knows that Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby, and those type of players are all going to get paid this offseason as well. Those guys are also on third contracts. So he knows where the market is going and he wants to be paid accordingly, and to this point, they've been very far apart like they've been with the other two guys as well.

Crosby just inked a three-year, $106.5 million contract extension with $91.5 million guaranteed on Wednesday according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Would the Bengals really trade Hendrickson?

"Our preference with Trey is to have him on our football team," Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin said last week. "I never really talked about open preferences for trading guys, because all that does is take on a life of its own. And that's not something I want to do, because I want Trey on our football team. He's under contract. We're looking to we're looking to pay him for what we believe will be really good future years and we see him as not falling off in his career."

Cincinnati is also dealing with rollercoaster contract negotiations for Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, which Meirov also noted are far apart as of this writing.

The Bengals are in a tough spot with the futures for all three players. Meirov said that the Bengals are in the $36-37 million range for Chase. Meanwhile, the Bengals tagged Higgins for $26.179 million.

Those are the two contracts that need to come together in the near future. If the Bengals can lower Higgins cap number ($26.179 million) before free agency next week, it would be ideal. The same goes for Chase, who's set to make $21.8 million this season. Finding a way to get those contracts in place before free agency would give the Bengals more cap space to work with to sign outside talent.

Check out Meirov's full comments below:

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