Back before the start of last season, the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive end Trey Hendirfckson agreed to a revised contract that bumped his pay.
At the time, reports said that the new deal did not include a no-tag clause. That made it quite obvious that the Bengals could attempt to retain control of him this offseason and not let him hit free agency.
That line of thinking got a little lost during the season when Hendrickson got hurt and the Bengals never realistically had a chance to move him at the NFL trade deadline.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport just confirmed a report from the last few days that the Bengals could tag Hendrickson.
“I’m not saying they're definitely going to franchise tag him,” Rapoport said. “But when he got that new deal there was nothing that prohibited the Bengals from doing a franchise tag.
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Taking a look at some franchise tag candidates with @RapSheet on The Insiders on @nflnetwork 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/B2TWjV52Ri
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 13, 2026
As we’ve stressed for months and Rapoport confirms here, the franchise tag wouldn’t cost much more than the lump sum the Bengals paid Hendrickson last year, anyway.
The problem would be control. Hendrickson has been frustrated and likely wants to see what he can get on the open market. It would be very out of character for the Bengals to do a tag-and-trade.
Meaning, the two sides might be headed for another offseason of drama. Maybe the Bengals just cut ties and let him walk. Or perhaps his market is bad after an injury at the age of 31 and they get back together.
But it’s not a secret that the Bengals can’t afford yet another offseason of contract drama, given their clear inability to juggle that while properly upgrading the roster.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Trey Hendrickson, Bengals might be headed for contract standoff again