The Cincinnati Bengals’ front office is not exactly known for shilling out money. Known as one of the stingier franchises around the league, many football fans were not shocked when they found out they were involved in yet another contract battle. This time with the team’s first round selection in last month’s draft, Shemar Stewart.
Shemar Stewart has been the talk of OTA’s. The rookie announced that he would not be participating in workouts until an agreement is reached. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio provided his insight on the holdout.
“Earlier this week, for example, Ben Baby of ESPN.com characterized the situation as a ‘hold-in’,” Florio wrote. “It’s definitely not. Stewart isn’t under contract. He can’t “hold-in” is he’s not an employee. He’s no more employed by the Bengals than anyone reading this. As we’ve said before, the position is simple — if you want me to act like an employee, make me an employee.”
The Reason He Won’t Sign Revealed
The reason why Shemar Stewart won’t sign has finally been uncovered. It appears that the Bengals are trying to change the phrasing of the rookies contract. There is one clause in particular that the rookie and his agents do not approve of.
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bengals want to include a phrase that causes a default in the current year to trigger a default in all remaining years,” Florio continued. “The problem is that the contract signed by last year’s first-round pick, tackle Amarius Mims, does not not include the language that the Bengals are now attempting to insert into Stewart’s deal. And Mims was taken one spot lower in 2024 (No. 18) than Stewart was picked in 2025 (No. 17).”
This so called ‘default trigger’ has not appeared in any Bengals’ contracts previously given to players in Cincy. The new phrasing provides a way for the Bengals’ to void guarantees to a player, barring unforeseen circumstances like inadequate performance or suspension. So instead of having a sum of guaranteed money spread over four years, the team would be able to get out of paying Stewart that money if something were to go wrong.
Stewart Doesn’t Want To Be The Guinea Pig
Though other teams around the league practice this, the Bengals also differ from those teams in the way in which they pay players their guarantee’s. It is for this reason that Florio says we shouldn’t be so quick to judge Stewart.
“The point is that the Bengals have an established way of doing things, when it comes to the language of their contracts. They’re looking to make a change as to Stewart, and Stewart is taking a stand on principle,” Florio concluded. “So before anyone wags a finger at Stewart for not submitting to the way things are done, let’s remember that the core of the current squabble flows from a sudden attempt by the Bengals to change the way contracts have been written.”
Stewart Speaks On The Holdout
ESPN’s Ben Baby got a quote from Stewart regarding the ‘hold-in’ that Florio criticized. In the article, Baby included that Stewart was present at training camp. He was observing drills in his number 97 jersey, but neglected to participate.
“I’m not asking for anything crazy,” Stewart told Baby. “I’m not even asking for nothing. I just want things to be consistent. I just want consistent language as in the past contracts. I just won’t practice until I get that.”
