Bengals Twitter has mixed reviews on Shemar Stewart selection

The Cincinnati Bengals took one of the more polarizing players in the NFL draft with Texas A&M EDGE Shemar Stewart. He is easily one of the most athletic players to come out of college football in recent seasons. The issue is pretty obviously just having 4.5 sacks over his career.

Here is how Twitter reacted:

Production issue

There is no doubt just having 4.5 sacks over his career isn’t great. There are obvious reasons to not like that, and people were understandably upset about that aspect of things.

The Good: Potential potential potential

Potential can be a dirty word with draft prospects. You look at traits a player has and think who that player COULD be. It is a dangerous game to play sometimes, but here are some reasons to believe in Stewart.

The Reality

At the end of the day, these guys are all prospects and it matters how they get coached up. This feels like a major boom or bust pick for a team that really could have used a sure thing, especially for defense. That leads to frustration. That frustration is compounded by a disappointing season the year prior.

This guy could very well pan out and turn out to be a guy people claim as a steal years down the line. We unfortunately do not have a crystal ball to know the answer. This is the first pick of the Al Golden defense, and he will hopefully be playing across from Trey Hendrickson (who currently is in a contract dispute with Cincinnati).

What fans need to see is this guy on the field after training camp. He won’t be a finished product then, but it will give us a better idea of his trajectory as a pro. Realistically most of us who haven’t followed Stewart closely will follow along suit like the tweets in this section that really sum up the situation perfectly.