Now that the contract standoff is over, Cincinnati Bengals rookie Shemar Stewart can focus solely on football. Although training camp started without him, Bengals defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery provided a glowing review of Stewart.
One of the questions surrounding the selection of Stewart in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft was the low sack total that he produced at Texas A&M. The 21-year-old recorded 4.5 sacks with the Aggies in 37 games over his three seasons.
On Sunday, Montgomery spoke to reporters about Stewart, saying his impact has been clear since joining training camp after sorting out his contract. Still, the Bengals coach emphasized they want to build things from the ground up with the rookie pass rusher.
“Stance. Alignment. Eyes. Feet. Hands. How we want to rush the quarterback. Where we want to get our eyes and toes to,” Montgomery said (h/t Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic). “There’s just so much he’s oblivious to because he’s learning. He just got here. But you see the flashes.”
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While Stewart has shown flashes of his potential, Montgomery stressed that it’s all part of a process. The rookie pass rusher needs to master the basics first before taking the next step and reaching the level the defensive line coach believes he can get to if he stays on track.
“Hopefully soon enough we’ll see a guy playing with his hair on fire,” Montgomery added. “It’s going to be hard. He’s 280 pounds, can run, he’s violent, he’s physical. Now he’s playing with good fundamentals. Now he’s controlling the line of scrimmage. That’s the goal …
“He’s nowhere near where he’s going to get to if he continues to buy into the process and the preparation and learning how to play at this level. You just can’t run around and do whatever you want. He’s got to play within the system and we are teaching him that.”
The Bengals could lean on Stewart right out the gate in Week 1, especially if there’s no Trey Hendrickson on that defensive line as he’s in training camp but not practicing amid a contract extension standoff with Cincinnati.
