Cincinnati Bengals’ Defense Is Falling Apart Before Training Camp Even Starts

The Cincinnati Bengals officially have two pretty big messes on their hands.

On Tuesday morning, star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson posted on his Instagram story that he was in Florida while the rest of the Bengals veterans reported to training camp.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted that long-term extension talks broke down before camp due to disagreements over guaranteed money. The Bengals are only offering Hendrickson one year of fully guaranteed cash, even though other top pass rushers like Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett received three years of fully guaranteed money this offseason.

Hendrickson’s absence from training camp—and the fact that he left the state of Ohio entirely during a messy contract dispute—came just one day after owner Mike Brown suggested things were going well in negotiations with arguably the team’s most important defensive player.

“I think it’ll get done,” Brown said Monday.

But the contract drama for Cincinnati’s defense doesn’t end there.

Rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart, who the Bengals selected No. 17 overall, still has not signed his rookie deal because of a guaranteed money dispute.

According to Stewart, he’s asking for the same protections the other 31 first-round picks across the league received. He remains the NFL’s only unsigned first-rounder, as every other rookie has reported to training camp.

“If we get a player who does something unacceptable, guess what? I don’t want to pay him,” Brown said when asked about the dispute. “I really don’t. If he’s sitting in jail, I don’t think I have to pay him.”

That’s a pretty wild assumption for an owner to casually toss out about his first-round rookie.

Then again, it’s not unprecedented—especially this year. Cleveland Browns second-round rookie running back Quinshon Judkins was arrested for battery and domestic violence earlier this month before even signing his first NFL contract. The Browns are letting his legal situation play out before moving forward.

This has become a pattern in Cincinnati. The Bengals had a brutal time extending Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, even though they eventually got those deals done to support Joe Burrow.

But if the Bengals are serious about making another Super Bowl run, they might want to realize just how bad their defense was last season—and take care of these two edge rushers before it spirals further.