The 28-year-old defensive end has 22 sacks, six forced fumbles and three passes defended in 31 regular-season games over his first two seasons with Cincinnati. He has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons, and he ranks fourth in the NFL in sacks since 2020.
An extension gives Hendrickson more security, while likely freeing up some cap space for the Bengals by stretching out his contract as the organization works on new deals for players like Burrow and Tee Higgins. He was just happy to know he will have another year in Cincinnati.
“One, it’s to keep me in the building,” Hendrickson said. “I want to stay a Bengal, and they gave me a tremendous opportunity. Two years ago, there was a lot of question marks around my name. They believed in me, and I still have the same desire to prove them right in the way they’ve invested in me. And that’s not something I take lightly. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them and the way they handle things, the organization, the way they care about people, like I said earlier, so just staying in the building personally for me is important.”
When asked why the deal included just one more year, Hendrickson said it made the most sense for the team and he will have more opportunities to tack on additional years later.
“There’s a lot of great players in this locker room, and there’s a lot that’s always going to be unknown,” Hendrickson said. “There are unknowns that are unforeseeable. I have two years in that current deal that I have to play out as well. So it made sense you know, to kind of go take this one year at a time kind of thing. But again, to have another year in a great city it’s a lot of fun, Bengals, Reds, there’s something about Cincinnati.”
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