<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yikes: Bengals 1st-round DE Shemar Stewart has decided to stay sidelined due to a disagreement over the contract language in his rookie deal as Phase 2 of offseason workouts begins today.<br><br>The Stewart holdout continues 😳 <a href="https://t.co/xkGtJQHPFo">pic.twitter.com/xkGtJQHPFo</a></p>&mdash; Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1924876559514570867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Loser behavior from a guy drafted to a loser franchise.

Seems like a great fit.

Defense is going to be softer than a post-Skyline session at Kohl's

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bengals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bengals</a> began OTAs today, but first-round pick Shemar Stewart still isn’t practicing as he and the team haven’t yet agreed on a contract. <a href="https://t.co/JF2F9aFg5d">pic.twitter.com/JF2F9aFg5d</a></p>&mdash; Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1927416597741817935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I know Pat was only helping work out with WR prospects the past couple of seasons, but you bet your ass he would have told Veach if he had bad vibes about a guy and the capacity that prospect had for being a selfish douche. I don’t think Burrow is involved at all.

Anyway, that’s why you hire more than four ****ing people to run your draft.

It's also fair to ask if this isn't a Bengals problem as much as a Stewart problem.

There's a reason seemingly every person that plays for that organization has an issue with their contract.

And it's ALWAYS penny wise and pound foolish on the part of the Bengals.

Unfortunately I think we've kinda fallen into a similar trap a time or two. I think it happened with OBJr. It's happened with Smith. I think it kinda went that way with Bolton.

I'm terrified it'll happen with McDuffie because that would get SUPER expensive extremely fast.

It's just so rare that these guys get cheaper. If you can't get a deal done - trade 'em. This 'play them on the tag and hope things work out' approach just never works worth a damn.

OBJs dumb ass actually signed for much less than he turned down with us.

Apparently UChieffy is Shemar Stewart LMAO

Getting guys extensions has nothing to do with this, but it IS partly a Bengals problem, which is why I brought up having more than four people who do college scouting in your building.

We always cringe when scouts reportedly ask prospects some pretty ****ed up "Have you stopped having sex with your sister?" type of questions, but teams are going to do everything they can to make sure a player they draft in the first round doesn't pull this kind of BS. He's either getting super shitty advice from an agent or he's individualistic to the point of not being a team guy. Because that's exactly what this is -- Stewart is jeopardizing his own career (for reasons already discussed) and hurting the team who drafted him all because he's so goddamn determined not to be supposedly taken advantage of like all those other gullible rookies.

And I don't think that kind of selfishness just surprises a team that drafts you if that team did their homework. I think it manifests itself when you do your visits and interviews.

The funny thing is that I've never had a problem with those questions.

They may seem strange as hell to us on the outside, but they've spent a ****TON of money on any number of psychologists and what not who have formulated these questions for very specific reasons and I'm betting they end up having a lot more predictive effect than the whiny dickbags on Twitter want to acknowledge.

It's a job interview for one of the most lucrative, sought after and competitive jobs in the entire world. And it's a volunteer gig. Those teams should be able to ask whatever the hell they want.

Just seems like so few guys sign early these days, must be a player thing.

Agents know the cap is exploding every year and there is no incentive for high draft picks to sign early. For instance, what motivation does McDuffie have to sign early? He will have 10m in the bank and he’s seen the top corner go from 24m per a year or so ago, to 25m for Surtain all the way up to 30m AAV for Stingley recently.

He’s a multi year all pro on a rookie deal. Unless KC offers a 5 year 150m extention with historic guarantees, what motivation does he have to sign early?

Also, from the teams perspective that have 5th year option and 2 tags…so it wouldn’t make sense in respect to the cap to extend him early and losing the advantage of the rookie contract and tags.

And of course the agents want the biggest commision checks possible and to be known as getting top dollar for their clients to attract new clients with their track record in negotiations.

I've heard a couple talking heads ramble about the language in the Bengal's contract being different than the majority of the league. Of course, none of them actually spell it out word for word to explain it to us, but if that's the case it would explain why this one particular dumpster fire continues to have these kinds of issues with players who the league has intentionally made easy to sign.

Look here, kid. The Bengals recently hired a couple people in their scouting department.