CINCINNATI — Bengals star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson didn’t report for training camp on Tuesday and was officially placed on the NFL’s Reserve/Did Not Report list.
The 30-year-old wants a new contract and is hoping that his absence is felt and leads to a contract extension in the near future.
“Obviously disappointing,” Joe Burrow said when asked about Hendrickson’s absence. “You’d like to have all your guys out there day one to try to build that cohesion that I was talking about earlier, but that’s not how it usually works out.”
Hendrickson will be fined $50,000 per day of camp missed. Any preseason or regular season game missed will result in a loss of $877,777.
He’s entering the final year of his contract and set to make $15.8 million in base salary.
“Me and Trey are in constant contact,” Burrow said. “I think the earlier you get these things done, the better.”
The Bengals and Hendrickson had negotiations earlier in the week, but they didn’t come to an agreement.
“No distraction for us,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said before practice. “It’s an easy topic to hit for you all. It’s newsworthy, certainly. The guys that have been in the locker room, they just want to go take care of business. It does not come up for us. I understand in these settings its going to come up. But for us, it doesn’t come up.
Bengals rookie Shemar Stewart is also holding out. The first rounder is one of two picks in this year’s draft that remains unsigned.
Hendrickson isn’t the only NFL star holding out. Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin was also placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list on Wednesday.
