Kelvin Washington and Rob Parker discuss whether the Bengals are alienating Quarterback Joe Burrow by not extending Edge Rusher Trey Hendrickson. Burrow said he wanted Hendrickson extended in an interview earlier this off-season, but the Bengals are now looking to trade him. They also franchise tagged Wide Receiver Tee Higgins, which Kelvin says is a slap in the face to Joe Burrow. Rob says the Bengals aren’t the Cowboys and shouldn’t be expected to pay everyone.
Kelvin Washington:
“One of the things that has been clear is their franchise quarterback, one of the best in the league, who had an incredible year this year, Joe Burrow, he has been very, very forthright about the fact that, hey man, I want us to get things right with this team. I want us to actually start succeeding and winning and getting back to the Super Bowl...and them franchise tagging Tee Higgins again, I think it is just another slap to the face of hey, we’re not fully committed to winning...look at Trey Hendrickson, they let him go. And you’re starting to see Joe Burrow say, hey man, all I want to do is compete for championships...he was willing to restructure his deal. He wants to find a way to keep Tee Higgins. He wants to find a way to keep Hendrickson. He wants to find a way to keep Ja’Marr happy”.
Rob Parker:
“I’m going to disagree with you from this standpoint. The Bengals are a mom and pop store. All teams are not created equal, even with the same salary cap. They don’t have the money. They were never going to be able to keep those players. That’s why a couple of years ago, when they went to the Super Bowl, that would have been their dream is to actually win the Super Bowl and then you don’t have to pay everybody. You paid the quarterback. We even see it in Kansas City, where their offensive line was terrible. They just let go of an all pro offensive lineman right? Because they don’t want to pay right? Tyreek killed it, they didn’t want to pay. This is the NFL now...If you are the Dallas Cowboys and you have all this money and Jerry’s not spending money the last two years and saying, whoa, we take a, Dak Prescott reworks his contract, I don’t know if that’s money is going to be spent in free agency. There’s the push-back on the Dallas Cowboys, not the Cincinnati Bengals.”