The Bengals and first-round edge rusher Shemar Stewart continue to be at odds. Now that training camp is open, both sides should be feeling a little extra urgency.
The team is. But instead of negotiating with Stewart, they’re trying to get him to cry uncle.
On Monday, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin lamented the fact that Stewart has yet to take the team’s take-it-or-leave-it offer of esoteric contract language relating to the voiding of guarantees. In so doing, Tobin took aim at Stewart’s agent, Zac Hiller.
“I don’t blame Shemar,” Tobin said, via Jaron May of WLWT. “He’s listening to the advice he’s paying for. I don’t understand the advice. . . . We’re treating him fairly.”
In response, Hiller said this via phone: “Duke Tobin has had no involvement in this negotiation. It seems to be above his pay grade.”
Frankly, Tobin isn’t the one who should be commenting on the negotiations, if he’s not the one handling them. And is it really a surprise that a guy who works for the Bengals would defend the Bengals’ position?
In a nutshell, the Bengals want Stewart to accept more restrictive language regarding the voiding of guarantees than the team used for past draft picks and, more recently, for receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But the Bengals have yet to offer Stewart any sort of concession to even things out.
It’s a power play, plain and simple. A “shut up and play” move. And now they’re trying to drive a wedge between Stewart and his agent.
All they need to do is find a way to offer Stewart something else to offset the unilateral change in contract language. But they’re too stubborn to do that.
In the end, it’s about sending messages. We have the power. And you don’t.
The Bengals are dealing with a pair of contract impasses involving defensive ends ahead of their first training camp practice this week.
First-round pick Shemar Stewart remains unsigned and veteran Trey Hendrickson is looking for a contract extension. Hendrickson did not attend the team’s mandatory minicamp as part of his push for a new deal and director of player personnel Duke Tobin addressed his status for camp with reporters on Monday.
“We believe everyone under contact should be here for camp,” Tobin said, via Charlie Clifford of WLWT.
Tobin said in January that Hendrickson has earned a new deal but that didn’t mean the two sides would agree on one. Talks stopped for a portion of the offseason before resuming recently, but no deal has come together and it remains to be seen what Hendrickson will do if that remains the case when practice gets underway.
The Bengals and No. 17 overall pick Shemar Stewart remain in a contract dispute that doesn’t appear to be close to ending.
Cincinnati’s rookies reported to training camp on Saturday, but Stewart was not among them. The defensive end has been posting pictures to social media of himself out of town.
On Monday, Cincinnati director of player personnel Duke Tobin told reporters that he’d like Stewart to show up.
“I hope Shemar comes in,” Tobin said, via Russ Heltman of SI.com. “He needs to be here. I would encourage him to be here. He could be a factor for a championship-caliber football team. I’d like to see him, and I hope he gets here soon.”
Stewart’s absence stems from the Bengals changing the default language in their contracts.
It is unclear what Stewart will do if he and the team cannot come to a deal.
We’re two days away from all 32 NFL teams having their training camps open, and five 2025 draft picks have not yet signed their rookie contracts.
In the first round, Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart remains at an impasse with the team about contract language potentially voiding future guarantees. It’s unclear which side will blink first, but for months it has been apparent that the Bengals and Stewart strongly disagree, and there’s no sign that either side plans to cave soon.
The other four unsigned draft picks are all in the second round, where the pace of signings was slow after the first two picks of the round both got fully guaranteed rookie contracts. Those first two contracts led other second-round picks to seek more guarantees for themselves, and as a result teams were slow to get their second-round picks signed. In recent days those signings have picked up, however, and now 28 of the 32 second-round picks are signed.
The highest-drafted second-round pick who remains unsigned is Browns running back Quinshon Judkins, who might not sign any time soon because he is currently dealing with a criminal investigation into an accusation that he punched a woman. That accusation could also lead to NFL discipline against Judkins.
The other three unsigned second-round picks are Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson, Titans edge rusher Oluwafemi Oladejo and Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba. All three teams’ rookies are due to report to training camp on Tuesday.
The Bengals confirmed reports that they signed quarterback Desmond Ridder on Sunday afternoon and they announced several other roster moves as well.
They have signed defensive tackles Taven Bryan and McTelvin Agim to their 90-man roster. They also signed center Andrew Raym while waiving quarterback Logan Woodside and guard Tashawn Manning.
With Woodside gone, Ridder joins Jake Browning and Payton Thorne behind Joe Burrow on the depth chart.
Bryan had 42 tackles and three sacks in 34 games for the Colts the last two seasons. The 2018 first-round pick played his first four seasons in Jacksonville and spent one year with the Browns before joining the Colts.
Agim last appeared in a regular season game for the Colts in 2023. Raym played in one game for the Panthers last season.
