Is Trey Hendrickson Finished in Cincy + Bengals Move on From NFL Draft Failure

Is Trey Hendrickson Finished in Cincy + Bengals Move on From NFL Draft Failure

Trey Hendrickson has opted for a surgery that will shut down his season. Does that mean he’s played his last snap as a Cincinnati Bengals? Certainly possible. Let’s break that down. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Now, the number one sports podcast network in the land, thanks to you, the Everydays, those of you who make Lockdown Bengals their first listen. He’s Japan. I’m Jake Liscoco. And we’ve been Locked on Bengals since 2016. Your best one-stop shop for all things Bengals online. And it’s not a day of good news today. I’ll tell you that from the jump. If you came here looking for a pickme up, it’s not going to be a theme throughout this episode, at least for my end. James, maybe you’ll be the optimistic side of today’s episode. But we got Trey Hendrickson shutting his season down, getting that core muscle surgery on Tuesday. The Bengals cutting Germaine Burton after he was suspended for Sunday’s game. T. Higgins is back in the concussion protocol. It’s just like thing after thing it felt like on Monday that we’re now going to discuss in this episode. And the the last shout out here before we dive into the Trey Hendrickson topic to start is we did just launch the Everydayer Club. I’ve been talking about it kind of as a as just a side for a while, but it’s now a real thing. If we’re your first listener of the day, if we are your everyday routine, well, you can take it up a level and go ad free. If that’s something you really want to do, you can join the Everydayer Club. You can get locked on Bengals with no interruptions. Members onlyly discord access and more. It’s just $5 a month or $50 a year. Save a little bit of money if you go for the full year. You can check the link in the show notes to learn more. You can check out social media to learn more. There are a lot of ways for you to get into this. There are some ways for you to get it for free to try it out for the first month that are out there on social media that you might be able to find. That might be gone by the time you hear this, but it might not be. That’s a limited time opportunity. But James, let’s dive into the Trey Hendrickson news. Uh Monday, uh a report that he was going to go see a specialist after Zack Taylor said he was going to go see a specialist and then Adam Shfter saying he’s planning to get a surgery. It’s going to be a six month six week, sorry, six week recovery and that’s going to shut down the season. Yeah. Well, hold on now. Pessimistic Jake. If they make the playoffs and they win, No, I’m just kidding. Yeah, Trey Hendrickson’s probably not playing for the rest of this year. And um it just continues the odd the odd situation that is. And I’m going to tell you what I think. Purely think this has nothing to do with uh what necessarily happened. I don’t know. Zack Taylor obviously tight to the vest. We haven’t heard from Trey since before the deadline. But uh as a as someone that talks Bengals every single day, I’m comfortable saying this. And if I’m way wrong, Trey, sorry if I’m way wrong. Bengals, sorry. I think the Bengals kept Trey off of injured reserve because they thought he was going to be able to come back and play through this core muscle injury, whatever other ailments that he was dealing with. And Trey on the other side said, “I’m not cleared or I’m not comfortable to play or whatever the case is with his camp.” And it drug out and drug out and drug out and it was weird. And Zack Taylor didn’t feel comfortable because he didn’t want to misspeak and so he just didn’t say anything. And uh so the team thought he could play. He didn’t think he could play and ultimately he goes and sees a specialist because it’s not getting better, a new specialist and it’s like ah it’s time to undergo surgery. I don’t know if any of that’s true. That’s what I think happened just looking at this 50,000 ft. And uh look, we haven’t heard from Trey since before the deadline. That was a long time ago. That was six weeks ago, right? what we asked Zack Taylor constantly about Trey Hendricks and and I could tell you that behind closed doors he’s not saying anything either uh to to people that would be in the no. So, this has been a really weird process, but ultimately this probably means that Trey Hendrickson, and there’s an off chance that it’s not the case, but probably means Trey Hendrickson played his last down as a Bengal. The I’d say arguably the best free agent signing in Bengals history, probably the best free agent signing in Bengals history. Four sacks this year. I don’t necessarily see them using the franchise tag on him now. much more risky to do it versus uh doing it if he had 10 sacks, 12 sacks, 15 sacks. He had four sacks this year. Obviously missed the majority of the season due to injury. Feels like he’s going to get to free agency and if he does, I think he ends up signing signing elsewhere. Yeah, I think uh fair to say best free agent signing in Bengals history. I mean, he’s an allpro. I don’t know how many free agents they’ve signed that have gone on to be all pros. He is pretty high up on the Bengals all-time sack leaderboard and did it in like half the games of the next guy. Not I’m embellishing a little bit there, but his sack rate per game is astronomical when you look at Bengals history. Going to go down as one of the best pass rushers in Bengals history. The thing about this whole situation that I keep coming back to, James, is that we just don’t know what happened. The injury was a back injury and then he got hit in the back and it looked like he was in a lot of pain after he came back too early. Took a a blind side shot to the low ribs to the back when he was already engaged on a play and got up and and was hardly able to walk off the field. And then we saw the injury classification change over time, back, hip, pelvis. Then the report about the core muscle surgery. We’ve talked about this before. The everydayers have heard me go through this timeline before. The injury classifications changed over time. We got some additional information over time that this is going to eventually cause Trey Hendrickson to to need a surgery. Then there’s this idea that, oh, he he’s trying to let it get better without the surgery because maybe he can get back faster that way, right? Maybe he can play through this thing. Maybe they don’t know that it’s a core muscles thing at first. So the the timeline that is I think the most uh generous reading of this for Trey is that initially they thought it was whatever his back injuries have been in the past that he has been able to play through maybe miss a game here or there play through in the past and then they realized a couple weeks into this thing when they didn’t put him on IR oh there’s actually a need for surgery to repair this core muscle injury and then they realized but maybe if you give it a couple more weeks weeks and and do this physical therapy and and rest this way, maybe you’ll be able to get back. And then they they gave it those couple of weeks and it didn’t work. And they kept giving it a couple weeks and discovering new things and and it just kept not getting better. And then he just decided to to go for the surgery now because maybe this is the amount of time they said like if it’s not better by December 9th, you better get that surgery. Maybe. We don’t know. We we haven’t had the information along the way to suggest that that’s exactly the case, but it’s plausible to say that that’s what happened is that they just kept learning a little bit more, a little bit more as things went because if they had known right away, this thing’s going to require surgery after the season. Could have just gotten the surgery right away. And hindsight, obviously, benefit of hindsight saying that, but if he gets that surgery right away and then takes six weeks, he’s probably playing right now. Now, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know, but could have gotten the surgery right away if they knew right away. Sure. And core muscle stuff is weird. It is unique. I I know of multiple players that have ultimately had core muscle surgery where the initial injury feels like it’s somewhere else and it it takes some time to evaluate it and find it and and all of those things. And it it can be unique as a as a high level athlete especially dealing with something like this and and just diagnosing it and finding it and and that might be why it was different on the injury report. Look at this stage at 4 and nine. I’d probably get the surgery too. I want a fully healthy offseason. I I I would uh I I think this I think Logan Wilson was in this position last year and after they fell a four and eight. He he had the surgery. It might have been a little before that, but it’s it’s one of those things and and I know this Trey will tell you and this is just from covering him for the past five years. Trey will tell you, “Oh, I’m going to do everything I can to play.” And so whatever the case is sucks because this is probably it for him in Cincinnati. I think it things could change. Some circumstances could change or maybe that doesn’t happen. It’s uh it’s December. March is a long way away, but as of now, it feels like he’s done in Cincinnati. And it just sucks that this is how it ends. It that it wasn’t a a sack in the playoffs to get them back to the AFC Championship game or the Super Bowl or something like that. It’s uh against the the Jets in the first half. And uh who knows with all these these one-score games if if Trey makes a difference. He probably does in some of these, but uh leaves at the end of the first half and maybe we we never see him again in stripes. Bit of an iconic game at least for Trey Henderson to go out in for the Cincinnati Bengals for all the wrong reasons. Oh, in 2025. But one of the Waco hurt, Trey Hurt, meltdown late like that that Jets game is just a nightmare. Nightmare. Terrible. Uh, and one of the themes of the season, one more point on Trey Henderson Hendendrickson that I want to dive into a little bit more, James, after this in a minute here is just there are a lot of people asking, does this make it more likely that Trey returns to the Bengals? Does this make it more likely? And you you’ve alluded to it a little bit here, but let’s dive into that a little bit more, a little bit more directly, and then we’ll get to the Germaine Burton release. We’ll get to T. Higgins going back to the concussion protocol. Those topics coming up next. You know, there’s no reason to let big wireless drain your wallet, especially during the holidays. Right now, Mint Mobile is running their best deal of the year. All of their unlimited plans are 50% off. That means you can lock in 3, six, or even 12 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month. It’s the easiest way to take your overpriced phone bill and give it the Scrooge treatment with Mint Mobile. And what makes this even better is how simple Mint makes it to switch. There’s no contracts. There’s no nonsense. Real savings, real quality service. Switching to Mint let you keep your same coverage for a lower price. Setup takes just a few minutes. You can bring your own phone, your own number without any issues. 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How does the league receive how Trey Hendrickson has gone about this season with just even if he did everything right, being unable to play, having another injury on the wrong side of 30 now, unable to to put together another season like we’ve seen from him. I will say that when he was on the field, when he was healthy early in the season, it looked like Trey Hendrickson, but when you miss most of the season, that can impact your market. And so the question then becomes, does he suddenly become more affordable for the Bengals? Does he become a candidate for a bet on myself, prove it year, one-year deal kind of thing for the Bengals? That is uh not something I imagine Trey wants to think about. That’s more for players coming off their rookie contract. But these are the questions that that people have been asking a little bit in the wake of this news. James. Yeah. And I get it. I do. I I think if the relationship because it it has gotten strained. You can tell it’s gotten strained. If that can smoothen out some, then maybe there is a path. Now, over the past eight months, nine months, no, it’s eight months probably. We’ve had Trey go on national shows, we’ve had Trey show up at practice in May, late April, early May. I think it was early May, and and say how Zack Taylor’s message bothered him about mini camp. Like, there was a lot here. It was emotional. Mike Brown even saying how emotional Trey can be when it comes to this stuff. So, can they get past that? The Bengals are emotionless. They’re a robot. So, possibly, possibly they can. Will Trey or or is he like, “Man, I am out of here.” You know? I I I think he loves the fan base. He loves being a Bengal. But I I think the past couple of years have been frustrating for him. And so, I would never say never, Jake, especially when it comes to something like this because it can change very very quickly. I we we’re a year and like a week removed from Joe Burrow keeping T. Higgins in place right after that Dallas game. He’s like, “Oh, I’m gonna make sure T. Higgins is here long term.” And and we’re going to talk about T coming up. But like these things can change in a hurry. And so who’s making the decision? Who’s around? Who’s not? What happens the final four weeks? What is Trey open to? What are the Bengals open to? There’s so many questions. So, I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but it does feel unlikely. Yeah, I think Never Say Never is about the right the right place to be here. Like, it’s possible. Yes, but it does not feel likely. Yeah, it’ be fun. Maybe it’ be fun. Can you imagine Trey Hendrickson signs a two-year $55 million deal with the Bay or whatever it is? They’re going to get to a point where they’re going to to need to need a pass rusher this off season. And that’s where the scenarios come up like what better way to spend your money. You got a guy you’re familiar with, a guy that can be productive, a guy that is probably the best on the market. And so that’s where I think people are coming from here. Like what else are they going to do? You gonna bring Joseph Osai back and bank on Shamar Stewart figuring it out after a lost rookie season for the most part dealing with his own injuries. Going to draft another one? I’m I’m hoping we get good news on Shamar this week and he can play. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I would love for it to happen. He needs it. Needs a development, right? Needs it. Who Who’s Yeah. What happens between now and the off seasonason? Another huge factor as you point out. Yeah. Hard to predict, but doesn’t feel remotely likely right now. Feels like the way this season went, the way last offseason went, the way two offseasons ago went, the way three offseasons ago went, this thing is going to be very difficult to mend. The the relationship between the team and Trey Hendrickson. The relationship that was unable to be mended between the team and the player involves Germaine Burton who has had his more than his share of issues with the team missing meetings over his time in Cincinnati and eventually gets suspended last week couple days ago for the the game in Buffalo and the Bengals just move on on Monday. James, one of the one of the worst picks in the draft in the Zack Taylor era. One of the worst picks ever for the Bengals. They’ve certainly had significantly worse in earlier rounds, don’t get me wrong, but uh this this staff at least had a pretty strong track record of getting it right with offensive skill players and they were unable to corral Germaine Burton and point him in a direction that would make him a productive football player on Sundays. Yeah, look, a lot of people are going to say, “James, what happened? We don’t know the Germaine Burton story.” And we do. We do. We don’t need every detail. It’s not this big conspiracy theory. It’s not this big, “Oh, well, one, no one wanted Germaine to be right more than Zack after he’s caught pounding on his chair and looking more like a kid on Christmas getting a Super Nintendo. A 5-year-old James getting a Super Nintendo on Christmas. Best Christmas ever, by the way.” Like, that’s what he looked like. And it was the one of the biggest swings they’ve taken. And everything you got with Germaine in year one, you got in year two. It was just less loud because everyone had got grown sick of it. You didn’t get as much reporting on it because it was the same stuff. It was showing up late and missing meetings and missing planes and missing this and miss. That’s it. And if you go back to the draft, the the Nick Sabin clip right after he’s drafted, he’s like, Germaine just needs to be consist. It’s it’s the same issue that he’s always had. Maybe he’ll figure it out because I get why the Bengals took the risk. They said, “All right, well, we may need to replace T. Higgins and this guy can play in the slot. He can kick outside. He’s got unique rare downfield ability where his hands are just super strong downfield and contested catch situations and he might be able to develop into a real dude opposite Jamar Chase.” And then he got here and they were like, “What the bleep?” And it never felt good ever. That’s why he was running with the third team in the preseason and out there as a rookie late in those preseason games when he put up those numbers. Uh last year obviously showed up late multiple times right before about to uh he he’s about to get a ton of targets and he’s in the game plan and all of those things like backto-back days. I’m not even sure that was officially reported. I can now. Why not? What’s it going to hurt? He’s just been that way the whole time. And I I mentioned to someone when was it when T was out? No, when Jamar was suspended. I was like, “Oh, is this Germaine’s time?” And it was not a coach. It was a player. And the player was like like laughed about it. Like this wasn’t like the coaching staff just hated Germaine and he’s like a martyr or something, you know, sacrificial lamb because they’re fresh. No, like no one in the building respected his work ethic or his dedic. And that to me is telling. Like it wasn’t like a player was like, “Oh, he can ball. He’s doing the right things.” I haven’t heard that once this year. Like once since training camp started. And I think that’s important because you would hear that I I don’t think it would take long for me to hear that about Mitch Tinsley or Kendrick Prior or whoever, regardless of skill set, regardless of talent level. There’s a little bit more here. There’s the Joe Burrow comments that were what the beginning of training camp is is probably the last time he heard an endorsement. Sure. Right at the beginning, which you that’s that’s when you’re at the be it’s like, man. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully he can keep it up type thing. And that’s when it gets hard is when training camp starts. Yeah. It’s the consistency, right? And there’s the offseason decision to keep Germaine Burton. There’s him him sticking around until now. there’s what’s going to happen if he catches on to one of these other teams that’s desperate for wide receiver help like in Kansas City or something like that. They they obviously have no issue taking on some some challenges at the wide receiver position. There’s a little bit more in Germaine Burton. T Higgins is back in the concussion protocol. How are T. Higgins and Germaine Burton related? That’s another topic I’ll throw out there. They’re cousins. Not not uh familially but uh relationally doesn’t really help define it I guess but related a little a little bit more on Burton and and then uh on to the Higgins topic here coming up next. Oh today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is a one-stop shop for all things sports betting. And of course, of course, NFL Sundays move fast. And it’s Bengals. It’s Ravens. The Ravens two and a half point home or road favorites, excuse me. The Bengals road underdogs this week. Home underdogs this week. Why am I getting this wrong? The game is at Por Stadium. The Bengals are two and a half point underdogs. and whether it’s something as simple as uh the the spread, whether you want to go with the money line with the Bengals, maybe you want to pair Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, especially with Tiggins and Protocol with the same game prop bet. They have all of those things. You can live bet. Obviously, games can turn at the drop of a hat or the the float of a ball in midair to Jamar Chase with like five minutes and 40 seconds left in the game. Uh the point is is games change fast and FanDuel is the perfect place to jump in on all the live spreads, all of the different parlays, money lines, player props, and more. All you have to do to get started is go to fandal.com. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action, go to fanduel.com, place your bets, NFL live bets all season long, including this week Bengals Ravens at Payor Stadium. That’s fan.com. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Remember Isaiah Williams, James? Yeah, I called him a roster lock at one point in camp. Roster lock. It did not work out that way. Didn’t have the best preseason on the field. And as a result, great in practice. Great in practice. Yeah, it was great in practice. I I mean in the games and and the things that you got to play well in the games, right? You’ve heard this coaching staff say it before. You’ve heard every coaching staff say it. You can be a great You’ve heard Joe Burrow say it. You know, you can be great in the classroom. You can be great on the practice field, but you got to be able to do it in games when it’s real football. And Isaiah Williams has been a contributor for the Jets. Not a very good football team. Isaiah Williams is making plays over there. The Bengals made a decision to keep last year’s third round pick that didn’t really have a lot of support in the building then either. No. But had some there was some positive moment for for Germaine at the beginning of training camp. I mentioned Joe Burrow’s comments and and let Isaiah Williams walk and now Germaine Burton is also gone. Just kind of too bad in hindsight. It’s it’s a little bit of hindsight but not entirely hindsight. This wasn’t unpredictable at the time. It’s worst case outcome I think but but not outside of the realm of possibility at the time either. just something that uh didn’t really want to acknowledge as a possible path because it’s it’s the worst case outcome. It’s just unfortunately it was realistic then and and it’s what’s happened. This is why you don’t invest a third round pick in a guy that you think has this floor like it was such a huge swing where it’s like if everything goes right he can replace T. Higgins right? If it goes half wrong, then maybe he’s a serviceable deep threat. If it goes all the way wrong, he doesn’t make it through year two. And I don’t think they felt like there was a scenario where with Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Troy Walters, their culture, that it could go this wrong. And some guys just they’re not built for it. And and maybe Germaine, who’s young and talented, figures it out. But the Germaine they received with the 80th pick in the third round there it was there was just no shot. It was just never going to happen. I mean this is it’s a pretty easy landing spot to come in, man. Player friendly coach offense that loves to throw the ball. You don’t have to be the one or the two and all the basic stuff that you would expect anybody to do uh as an adult, certainly an NFL player. It just it was a struggle. So yeah, the the Isaiah Williams part of it is painful, especially because he did make it to the practice squad and then he got picked up when the Jets made their move. They their punt returner uh fumbled what, week one, week two, something like that early in the season and then they moved on and and they went and they get Isaiah Williams and he was someone I was excited about. And that’s that’s how it works. That’s how the cookie crumbles, Joe Burrow quote. But um when you invest as high of a pick as you did in Germaine, you can’t give up after one year unless it’s just cat like even more so like I don’t blame the Bengals for doing that because they had already invested too much. And that’s the problem. That’s what it goes back to to me is you already too in on a stock that was very you knew at the time could bottom out and you could be left with nothing. And so you had to kind of hold on and hope that it it rebounded and obviously he didn’t. I mean, we’ve seen them do this with Jackson Carman. We’ve seen them do this with Zack Carter and and Carter was, you know, onfield performance reasons that they end up moving on there. But yeah, yeah, I mean, they give they give these guys and most teams give these guys multiple chances. It’s just a shame that that, you know, it didn’t work out. the the fit between Burton and the organization, whether the organization did enough or not. There’s a lot of speculation on both sides of how much support the Bengals provided to Germaine Burton. Whatever it was, I don’t It didn’t work. What’s that? I don’t know. I just Yeah, I I get that. I get why people look at it that way outside. Oh, yeah. I don’t have any anything to tell people about that. I just know that it is speculative in in all directions. Mhm. T. Higgins is back in the concussion protocol. James, there were many, speaking of speculation, speculating that after T reached for his head at least twice after it had hit the ground hard on different plays in that game that he was concussed again, managed to get through the concussion evaluations on the sideline from the independent evaluator on Sunday. reported symptoms after the game. Back into concussion protocol this week. This is just one of those you hate to see it kind of moments, right? He he gets cleared for the concussions. He’s double catching the ball the entire game both before he hit his head the first time and after. Makes a sick one-handed touchdown catch deep downfield after returning after two different evaluations. But man, in in hindsight, it sure does look obvious that when you reach for your head after your head hits the ground, you probably shouldn’t go back in the game. Yep. It’s it’s not a very good feeling to know that he’s back in concussion protocol. People have invoked to a tongue of Aloa and him returning too soon. And I do see the parallels. I hope he gets right. I hope he gets better. I wonder if there will be an investigation into what happened. It sounds like I mean the NFL PA and the NFL issued a joint statement saying that he cleared protocol twice. So maybe that’s it. There’s no there’s no investigation coming. But it’s one of those moments for for brain safety that just like for this league in the last few years it just looks real fishy like something something went wrong in the process is what it feels like today. Well clearly the protocol isn’t exact isn’t 100%. Uh the T. Higgins the the first time the independent and it’s independent. It’s not a team doctor, someone like that evaluating. It’s someone that is just there to evaluate head injuries. Um said, “All right, T, come on.” And and went through protocol. Second time, T was like, “Yeah, c can you check me again?” And apparently got checked again. So, two different times was evaluated during that game. Passed both. Look, it’s tough. And I get it. I I get it. I I hope we don’t see T obviously this week. I I really don’t because you just don’t want to risk it again. And it it’s weird how much we’ve seen him hit his head now for for two weeks. Like it it just seems like you do it once and as a receiver and now you’re in these awkward spots and it’s just it almost seems like it’s just more likely to happen right now. So, you want him to get right because he’s 25 26 years old and I think 26 now and just, you know, football is football. And here’s the other thing. It wasn’t the Super Bowl. It was a big game for the Bengals for sure. And he was awesome. I actually don’t even know how he made the one-handed catch, but after he came out and was evaluated the first time, he had two drops. Kind of wasn’t on the same page with with Joe on the one. like you could just kind of see it’s like this doesn’t feel like te and the drops were like him pushing the ball down when he when he goes to catch it, you know, it just seemed a little he’s double catching it. The reason I brought that up is cuz he was doing it before the the first head bang on the ground, too. Like he he was having issues all day, so it didn’t get better, obviously, but uh he was having that issue before the first headbang, too, from what I recall. Yeah. And who knows, right? But it’s just you want him to be good. Mhm. And and I talked to I did talk to him late in the week before he talked to reporters and he he felt good. The doctors, you know, felt good about where he was at and uh you know, it’s just two concussions in two weeks. I know I I saw some speculation that that could cost him multiple games, maybe the season. We’ll see. Uh if if that’s the case. Um, so I I hope whatever it is, whenever he comes back, he’s just fully healthy because you don’t want you don’t want to keep playing with this this issue. And by playing with this issue, I mean trying to to suit up when you’re taking this risk. You take this risk all the time anyway as a football player, but it’s obviously much bigger when you’re you’re already dealing with a head injury. It’s been a pretty tough season and T. Higgins, if if this is it for his season, because why would you bring him back? I mean, I guess it depends on what you He might win the next two. I guess it depends on how it shakes out, but yeah, T right now has played in 12 games, same amount of games as Jamar Chase this season. Hasn’t had any of those lower body soft tissue injuries this year. Now dealing with concussions. But again, it’s it’s going to be a season that’s cut short for T. 667 yards on 46 catches, nine touchdowns. Leads the team in touchdown catches by nearly double what Jamar has this year. I mean, didn’t get to see him much with Joe. Didn’t get to see the the triumvirant that is supposed to drive this team together for more than a handful of snaps this year. And when they were together, it looked great. So unfortunate in that regard, but yeah, more than anything if if there’s not a real good reason and he’s not feeling great, I’m I’m going very cautiously with T. Sure. The rest of the season because he’s a building block and it’s Yeah, it’s no different than any of your other building blocks. And it’s a a scary headed. This isn’t an ankle sprain that you brace up. It’s not It’s not You can’t put a steel plate in his shoe to protect the toe, you know, like you can with Joe Burrow returning from the turf toe thing. I wonder if he’ll wear one of the the big guardian caps. The guardian cap. Yeah, I was going to say the big head things, but yeah, he guardian cap. Well, some players just opt to wear those and I I wonder if you even notice them if they’re on. I know he’s worn them in practice, I think. But Romeo Dobs is one that I remember just from from a a team the Bengals have played against this year. There are a couple players on the Packers that wear them. And I would kind of say why not unless it’s noticeable and and a detriment, you know, to to wear it to the player if you feel like it’s going to affect your performance. But the other the other side and I don’t know the other side of it is there is mixed evidence as to their effectiveness. like I don’t think it hurts, but there was a big review of like high school players wearing them that found that it wasn’t necessarily as effective as hoped. Um, so I think mixed evidence as far as how how helpful they are, but it couldn’t hurt, right? There’s also the uh the neck brace thing that that people wear, not like the neck roll that like old school linebackers wore, but like it kind of puts light pressure. I was reading about it yesterday. Puts light pressure on your jugular to to increase blood flow. Yeah. In your head. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it’s like a small small thing. Yeah, the idea is that the increased blood in the head can can reduce the the impact of some of the head blows. Kind of weird when you think about it that way, but hey, if it works, it works. Um, as long as there’s no downsides to it. So, we’ll see what what T thinks about in the future, what all these players think about in the future. But just an unfortunate situation that T now finds himself in. And look, the season goes on. The Bengals play Baltimore this week. They’re they’re technically not dead in the water. Just feels like they’re real dead in the water at this point. But they could put a real dent into Baltimore’s playoff hopes as uh we see if the no team winning the AFC North for three straight years. Magic in the air continues this year. And we’ll get to that matchup with the crossover very soon. That’s our next episode. Then a game preview after that. That’s going to do it though for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Good day and have a

Trey Hendrickson is having surgery that likely ends his season, and likely his tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down Hendrickson’s injury saga, shifting free agency outlook, and the potential ripple effects for the Bengals’ defense next season.

And it hasn’t been a good week for the rest of the team coming off a brutal loss in Buffalo. Jermaine Burton’s disappointing run with the Bengals ended in release, and we’re concerned for Tee Higgins, back in the concussion protocol, after he finished the game on Sunday.

0:00 – Trey Hendrickson injury & Bengals future: Trey Hendrickson opts for season-ending core muscle surgery.

Jake Liscow and James Rapien analyze what happened, break down possible miscommunication or disagreement between Hendrickson, his camp, and the Bengals. Discussion of Hendrickson’s legacy in Cincinnati and whether he’s played his last snap as a Bengal.

10:08 – Will Hendrickson return in 2025? Deep dive into Hendrickson’s possible market value after injury and his chances of returning to the team.
James Rapien points out potential strain in team-player relationship, and whether it can be repaired, plus roster-building challenges.

Jake Liscow and James Rapien debate possible offseason moves if Hendrickson does not return.

16:08 – Jermaine Burton cut & Tee Higgins’ concussion: Reaction to Jermaine Burton’s release after repeated disciplinary issues; comparison to other Bengals’ recent draft situations. Candid talk about team culture, discipline, and failed picks. Latest injury update: Tee Higgins back in concussion protocol; concerns over return-to-play policy, repercussions for Bengals’ WR core, and Higgins’ long-term health.

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