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Ben Baby
Palm Beach, Florida. The pause between the words felt even heavier since Katie Blackburn’s prayer was suspended in Florida’s humidity last Tuesday.
In his session with local reporters at the annual NFL meeting in West Palm Beach, the executive vice president of the Cincinnati Bengals sought the right word to describe the situation of the defendant’s contract Trey Hendrickson.
But after approximately 6.08 seconds, Blackburn finally found the right word.
“Without resolving, I guess you could say,” said Blackburn.
The statement was in response to a question about the large seasonal season expenses. In what seemed unlikely six months before, the team signed the open receptors Ja’mar Chase and Tee Higgins to extensions of several years worth $ 276 million combined.
That context is essential when analyzing how the Bengals are being built by 2025 and beyond. If Cincinnati will return to the Super Bowl, it will be with the strength of the three players with the largest offers: Chase, Higgins and the field marshal Joe Burrow.
“We are going to have to discover how to work the pieces around that,” said Blackburn. “It can be done.”
There are other pressing needs for a team of the Bengals that enjoyed the race years of their best players in 2024, but the playoffs were still lost for the second consecutive season. But the priority for the Bengals was to make sure that Chase and Higgins were part of the offensive attack in the future.
Blackburn said that “there is no doubt” that the calculation of signing two players who will occupy a fifth of the capitalization space in 2025 meant making decisions on the list. That includes trying to solve the Hendrickson dilemma.
The 31 -year -old border corridor led the NFL in captures last season with 17.5. He and Chase were the first All-Pro teams of the team since 2015. And for the second consecutive year, Hendrickson requested an exchange to obtain a long-term contract and a salary increase.
This low season, Cincinnati gave Hendrickson permission to find an exchange. Blackburn said Hendrickson felt strongly about exploring options when Cincinnati had limitations while trying to make all the agreements this low season.
But given what the Bengals invested in Chase and Higgins and the market for edge corridors that currently has a $ 40 million ceiling a year, Blackburn was asked if it is feasible to do something with Hendrickson at a pace that everyone can be happy with the progress.
“I think I should be happy at certain rates that may not believe I would be happy,” said the executive vice president.
Then Blackburn took a couple of seconds to stop.
“I think some of that is to be happy at some point,” said Blackburn. “If it is not, that is what sometimes keeps it.”
Hendrickson responded to those comments lamenting the lack of communication from the Bengals to his agent, Harold Lewis. He said he was “disappointed” in the position of the Bengals.
The Bengals have the number 17 selection in the draft and could address the passage situation through that route.
Blackburn also noted that Hendrickson remains a Bengal, with his contract scheduled to meet 2025 with a base salary of $ 15.8 million. Blackburn, who is the one who negotiates and signs the largest contracts of the team, also said that the team has great respect for Hendrickson and hopes that the two parties can solve something.
But ultimately, the Bengals have firmly made their decision. For this team to win at the highest level, Burrow and its main game creators will lead it.
Cincinnati believes that familiarity and consistency between Burrow and its main receptors should be a great strength this season.
“We focus on trying to maintain that offensive piece because we believe it gives us the opportunity to have the best opportunity to win,” said Blackburn.
That approach also took into account to find a possible initial offensive guard. The team launched veteran Alex Cappa and brought Lucas Patrick in the free agency. The Busk coach Zac Taylor, had effusive praise for Patrick and how well he faces the defensive liners of the interior that Cincinnati faces.
But in a one -year agreement worth $ 2 million, even that decision was built around Burrow, Chase and Higgins.
“We went through a process with our receptors and wanted to make sure they would pay them first,” Taylor said. “Then we work (the guard market) too.”
The expectations are clear for the next season. Blackburn believes that the team has the skill, talent and opportunity to do it well in 2025. Now it is a matter of fulfilling those aspirations.
Blackburn said: “You have to take advantage of the opportunities we have this year and get the results we want.”
