Franchise tag

[CJD]

Trey's options, at this point:

1. Sign a team friendly contract that will probably give him ~28 to 30 million per year of new money in either a 2 or 3 year extension, with only the 1st year of that extension, and maybe a few more million in the later years, guaranteed.

2. Play on his current contract and hit free agency next year, in which case the Bengals will franchise tag him and then repeat the process.

3. Retire.

He isn't going to be traded unless someone blows the Bengals doors off with an offer. He isn't going to get a 36M AAV contract for 4 years or anything like that. He is currently under contract for 15.8M this year. The 2026 franchise tag for defensive ends is projected to be approximately 26.5M. The 2027 franchise tag would then likely be 120% of that number, or 31.8M.

So the Bengals have his age 30, age 31 and age 32 seasons under complete control, with nothing he can do about it other than talk to the media or retire, at a rate of 3 years, 74.1M, with no guarantees beyond each off season (if his play declines, they can just not tag him and owe him nothing because he's a "free agent" after each season).

So why on Earth would the Bengals go beyond that number?

There is value to a player being happy in his situation, but this agent has screwed up so many times, I feel like all that good will is gone. In the last 3 off seasons, Trey signed an extension at his agent's behest, requested a trade and threatened retirement, and then requested a trade and threatened retirement again. 

Only an insane person requests a new contract 1 season after they just got a new contract. What guarantee would the Bengals have, even if they extended him this off season, that he wouldn't demand a new contract next off season?

Trey has turned this relationship into a transaction by following his garbage agent's advice to go to the media every off season and now he's paying the consequences.