Back in March, veteran corner Trae Waynes decided to leave Minnesota Vikings and agreed to a handsome three-year, $42 million contract with Cincinnati Bengals. However, it turns out that Waynes still isn’t officially under contract with Bengals.
Bengals are one of the rare teams in the NFL that didn’t allow their free-agent acquisitions to do their physicals with team doctors. Since the league doesn’t allow this at the moment due to coronavirus pandemic, the players that agreed on a contract with the franchise remain in limbo.
Waynes commented on the situation during his appearance on Behind the Mask Podcast, expressing his frustration with the wait.
“It’s still going on for me,” said Waynes. “I signed here, but I ain’t really sign here. It was cool at first and I’m thinking it’ll be done and over with. Ninety percent of the league, it’s done for them. I know Cincy and a couple of other teams, they still ain’t pay nobody or let them take their physicals, so it’s technically still going on.”
Waynes says that the holdup is also affecting his workout regime. His agent advised him not to strain his body as he could risk an injury that would cause Bengals to nix the deal.
“How am I supposed to make myself better, without being able to push myself the way I want to push myself to have success?” he added.
Trae Waynes entered the league in 2015 as Vikings’ first-round pick. Waynes played a total of 74 games (53 starts) since then and contributed with 247 tackles, 42 pass deflections, seven interceptions, and 1.0 sacks.
