Will the Bengals and defensive end Trey Hendrickson get a deal done? Quarterback Joe Burrow realizes that the team has a history of ramping up talks as the regular season approaches.
“I think historically, these deals with us have gotten done closer to Week 1,” Burrow told reporters after Monday night’s preseason game against Washington, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I signed on the Thursday before the first game. J’Marr [Chase’s talks] started to pick up, you know, that week before last year, too. We were able to Tee [Higgins] and J’Marr early this year, so that was great. But I think historically, the way we’ve done business is and that tends to pick up here in the next two weeks, so we’ll see.”
Burrow’s preference comes through in the answer. It’s “great” to get the deals done early, like the Bengals did with Higgins and Chase.
And while the NFL is a deadline-driven business, the deadline when a player is holding in shouldn’t be Week 1. It should be tied to the practical deadline for getting the player ready to go for Week 1.
Hendrickson skipped the offseason program. He hasn’t practiced during training camp. He can’t just sign a contract on Saturday and suit up and play on Sunday.
So when should they be getting it done, in order to have him ready to help the Bengals get off to the kind of fast start they haven’t enjoyed during Burrow’s career?
How about, you know, now?