The Cincinnati Bengals and first-round pick Shemar Stewart remain in a standoff over his rookie contract.
According to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the dispute comes over the Bengals “trying to change the language in the contract for their first-round pick that allows the team to void future guarantees.”
Stewart, who has yet to practice with the team as he waits for things to get sorted out, has publicly expressed his frustration with the situation, and he even left the team’s mandatory minicamp a day early.
While the expectation is that something eventually gets done, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight, which could lead to one of two wild scenarios.
As CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones spells out, Stewart could decide not to sign and play in 2025 and then re-enter the draft in 2026, where he can be picked by another team.
The Bengals could also trade the rights to Stewart to another team, but that would have to be done by the first week of August.
“Well, the Bengals could trade his rights to another team that would be willing to change their own contract language, but that would have to be done by the first week of August. Don’t really see that happening,” Jones said.
“The other thing is, Shemar Stewart, he could sit out the whole season and re-enter the 2026 NFL draft and have someone else pick him up,” Jones added. “Not really sure that’s going to happen, but look, we’ve seen it happen across sports before.”
Of course, both scenarios are highly unlikely, to say the least, but we have seen professional athletes take similar approaches before in the history of sports.
Jones went on to cite the infamous situations involving Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Athletics, and John Elway and the Baltimore Colts as examples.
Stewart isn’t the only ugly contract situation the Bengals have with an edge rusher. The team is also embroiled in a standoff with star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who is seeking a new contract and raise from the team.
That situation is going horribly, also, and there’s even more on the line because of how crucial Hendrickson is to Cincinnati’s defense.
