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Bengals first-round DE Shemar Stewart addressed his ongoing holdout in pointed terms, making it clear he’s frustrated at how a situation that is a formality 99 percent of the time for the other 31 teams has become a lengthy dispute.
Stewart took aim at the front office when asked how long he was prepared to hold out to make his point.
“As in how far I’ll take it, it just depends,” Stewart said via SI.com’s Jay Morrison. “I’m not asking for nothing y’all have never done before. But in y’all’s case, y’all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games.”
Rookie contract disputes have become far rarer after the league instituted a wage scale a decade and a half ago that slots all draft pick contracts. However, higher draft picks have a few points they can negotiate on still.
The Bengals and Stewart are at odds because Cincinnati is changing the language regarding how guarantees can be voided and the percentage of compensation in future years paid as a training-camp roster bonus instead of in base salary. The contracts for the Bengals’ last two first-round picks did not contain the language differences.
“I’ve never been a person to ask for more than what I deserve,” Stewart said. “And (the Bengals) trying to implement something new, to me, is unfair. And I feel like I’ve been nothing but fair. I’m not asking for nothing crazy. I could understand if I was asking for more on my signing bonus, which I’m not. They trying to do all of this is crazy.”
The dispute cost Stewart all of OTAs and now mandatory minicamp. Because he’s unsigned, he’s not subject to fines for missing minicamp, but his preference is still to be getting ready to hit the ground running this upcoming season. However, Stewart noted he has the support of the locker room, including some of the star players.
“It’s made it very easy when the people in here, in the locker room, say ‘you’re doing the right things,’ especially the star players,” Stewart said.
The rookie compared his situation to veteran DE Trey Hendrickson, who is also holding out in a prolonged contract dispute with the team.
“We’ll all agree (paying) Trey would be right, right? But some can still say he’s 1 percent wrong for being under contract,” Stewart said. “In my case, I’m 100 percent right, so it should be a no-brainer. Trey’s case should be a no-brainer, too. But I guess they don’t feel like that.”
Stewart, 21, was a five-star recruit who was the ninth-ranked player and the third-ranked defensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class. He committed to Texas A&M and became a full-time starter in his junior year, earning third-team All-SEC honors.
The Bengals selected Stewart with the No. 17 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s projected to sign a four-year, $18,942,634 contract that includes a $10,416,460 signing bonus. The contract includes a fifth-year option for the team...
