Trey Hendrickson And Shemar Stewart Contract Disputes Killing Bengals' Mission To Start Season Fast

Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart both remain away from Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Bengals this offseason think they've identified the biggest problem that has kept them out of the playoffs the last two years and that's their annoying inability to start seasons fast. So coach Zac Taylor has a plan to overcome this playoff-killing habit.

Taylor said on Thursday he plans to play his starters more in the coming preseason – obviously to have them ready to go for the start of the regular season.  He added that veterans being asked to participate in multiple preseason games – which hasn't typically happened in the past – is "on the table."

Zac Taylor: Starting Fast Is Key

The club will also have no joint practices with other teams because Taylor wants more work time to hone his team rather than invest in travel time or have to accommodate another team's schedule.

It might also help if quarterback Joe Burrow stays healthy during camp, something he's been unable to do in the past.

"I think every season's been different, you know, the reasons for our 0-2 starts have been different," Taylor said Thursday at the conclusion of the team's mandatory minicamp. "It's something we definitely talk about. And training camp will feel a little bit different in some ways.

"We're only going to practice with ourselves this preseason. We're going to let our starters play a little bit more, hopefully, in the game. Hopefully, it plays out that way."

And the Bengals will be practicing mostly in the mornings during camp. 

"We want to think about what's the best thing for this team, the 2025 team," Taylor said. "Just because we've done it a certain way, I kind of said this forever, just because we've done it a certain way forever, doesn't mean that's how we have to do it."

Bengals Slow Starts Have Been Rough

This is a lot of thoughtful work Taylor and his coaching staff have done to try to overcome the fact the Bengals started the 2023 season 0-2 and 1-3 and couldn't dig out of that hole well enough to make the playoffs. 

They started the 2024 season 0-3 and, again, missed the playoffs.

But there's a major obstacle in all this good planning by Taylor.

Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart get a vote, too.

And the team's best defensive player in Hendrickson and No. 1 draft pick in Stewart are so far declining to be part of all the offseason preparation the Bengals have already done.

Steward And Hendrickson Contract Disputes

And they might not be around for the start of training camp when that begins in earnest with players reporting the week of July 20-26. 

Hendrickson, you see, is eyebrows deep in a contract dispute with the club that has turned ugly at times.

He's asked for a trade.

He's spoken publicly about his disappointment with the team.

And he's declined to participate in the offseason program, OTAs, and mandatory minicamp this week. Hendrickson is subject to fines for missing the minicamp practices.

Stewart, who is unsigned, showed up for the first day of mandatory minicamp but did not practice because he's not allowed to until he's under contract. He left Cincinnati before the end of minicamp on Thursday because, again, he is still not signed.

Stewart has been around the club but hasn't participated in other offseason activities, either.

There is currently no guarantee either player will have an extension, in Hendrickson's case, and a new rookie-deal contract, in Stewart's case, by the time training camp begins.

So both players might miss the start of training camp and possibly hold out longer until their contract disputes are resolved.

Stewart And Hendrickson Not Present

That means that Cincinnati's two possible starting edge rushers won't be around when Taylor's grand plan for starting fast in 2025 kicks off.

"Anytime you have great players, you want them to be around," Taylor said, addressing the Hendrickson situation specifically. "And that's just a decision he's got going on right now. And we'll keep focusing on the guys who are here."

That is easier to do now than it would be once training camp begins and the pressure to be ready for the team's Sept. 7. regular-season opener at the Cleveland Browns begins to mount.

This eventually will be a front office problem. The Bengals need to pay Hendrickson. He's underpaid and even Vice President JD Vance, a Bengals fan, thinks so. 

Stewart's situation, in which he's seeking guarantees that have been afforded other draftees but not offered to him, is troubling because he has been limited to classroom work rather than on-field work all offseason.

"It’s not the best-case scenario of how the spring could have gone for our first-round pick," veteran center Ted Karras told reporters.

Stewart earlier this week said the Cincy front office is more concerned about winning contract negotiations than games. Maybe Taylor should think about that as he's trying to get his team off to a fast start in 2025.

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Armando Salguero is a national award-winning columnist and is OutKick's Senior NFL Writer. He has covered the NFL since 1990 and is a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a voter for the Associated Press All-Pro Team and Awards. Salguero, selected a top 10 columnist by the APSE, has worked for the Miami Herald, Miami News, Palm Beach Post and ESPN as a national reporter. He has also hosted morning drive radio shows in South Florida.