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I doubt Stewart would have spoken publicly like this had not Hendrickson not done it first. While I'm on the side of the players in both instances, none of this public sniping helps with overall roster morale.

I wish I understood why they are doing this with Stewart... "Something very simple to fix. It's kind of disappointing."

And on and on it goes...

Jay Morrison article: CINCINNATI – Germaine Pratt deserved better from the Cincinnati Bengals, but that just makes him a member of a club that is far from exclusive. Jessie Bates, DJ Reader and Andrew Whitworth are just a few of the former players who will be waiting to greet Pratt at the door. The Bengals finally released Pratt today, ending five months of inevitability. Pratt’s play dropped off considerably in 2024 despite leading the team with 143 tackles. His missed tackles, poor angles and slower pursuit played a role in the overall defensive disaster that cost the Bengals a playoff berth and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo his job. With Pratt due to count $8.2 million against the salary cap in the final season of the three-year, $20.5 million extension he signed following the 2022 season, keeping an aging, slowing, declining linebacker never was in the plans. But the Bengals waited another five months to stamp the transaction, costing Pratt a chance to find a new home in free agency. You could make an argument for at least wanting to see how the draft played out, but the Bengals landed linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. in the second round and Barrett Carter in the fourth round. Instead of cutting Pratt after that, the team relocated his locker, shoving it into a corner near the defensive backs to make room from Knight and Carter, the latter of whom is in Pratt’s former space. Prior to the draft, the Bengals didn’t just cost Pratt in free agency. They cost themselves. Their inability to get the Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins extensions done before the start of free agency blew up whatever plan might have been in place, resulting in them not addressing some obvious positions of need. Cutting Pratt saves $5.85 million in cap space which could have been used to add more help in March. Pratt requested a trade in February, and perhaps that’s why they strung him along for so long, hoping another team would have an injury at the linebacker position that would jolt them into pursuing a deal. But that was the only way a trade was going to happen because the rest of the league knew the split was coming, so whatever teams might be interested in Pratt were willing to wait until the light finally went on in the Bengals front office. Pratt deserved better.

Come on, after all that Joe and Ja'Marr did to help Tee get the extension, they would both hit the roof if Higgins got traded. It goes beyond just having a potentially good replacement around. It' more of a brotherhood thing with Joe, Ja'Marr and Tee. Not that Tobin ever gets involved in big trades anyway. Just not his style.

With the way the Bengals tiptoed through free agency, you might have thought they were prepared to pay Hendrickson 50M per year.

Not sure why the Packers are releasing Alexander. Hope he stays in the NFC though. I know there's no chance of him ever being a Bengal player.

If all of the games are going to be close, then the kicking game becomes absolutely critical. Not only did the Bengals struggle kicking FGs, their opponents did a great job with it on their end.

Keep in mind that was Burrow's first game back from a very rare ligament injury to his throwing wrist. I remember how he searched all offseason for a QB at any level that had also suffered that particular injury. Just so he would know what the recovery period was like. Not sure if he ever found one.

What they are trying to do with Stewart's rookie contract is completely idiotic. They are trying to roll back the clock on a 1st rounder's contract even as the clock continues to roll forward all across the NFL. Why did they ever think this would work? There's no way that Stewart's agent will allow him to sign a contract with that kind of language. He wouldn't be able to attract more clients after that. Just pure craziness that the Bengals are even attempting to do this.

I guess it's a sign of the times that Hendrickson has gotten way more national attention this offseason as a contract holdout than he ever did as an on-the-field football player.

While there are definitely some defensive position rooms where the Bengals might be lacking, this could be the deepest and most explosive receiver group they have ever had. If Iosivas takes another step forward and Burton takes two - both very possible imo - then this group could be truly elite across the board. Especially if you consider Gesicki to be more of a receiver than a TE.

Derrick Henry also had a contract that he wildly outplayed. The Ravens got out in front of the situation and gave him a new extension with a huge raise after a monster season. Made it clear that they have other foundational players on their roster that they intend to extend to take advantage of their Lamar Jackson championship window. Fred Warner just got another extension with the 49ers to reward him for his tremendous play. This is what smart in-it-to-win-it organizations do as salary caps and guaranteed money rates continue to escalate across the NFL. Not only do they reward individual players for outplaying their existing contracts, but they also build goodwill across the entire roster by letting them all know by their actions that they will reward their elite players. That's why I get tired of fans saying that this is strictly the Bengals front office vs. Trey Hendrickson. It's really the Bengals front office vs. the entire Bengals player roster. So even if the front office wins this stare down, Hendrickson certainly will not be the only loser. The morale of the entire roster goes down. Most college prospects and NFL free agents on both sides of the ball would normally love to play on a team with a rare franchise QB like Joe Burrow. But the way that the Bengals front office fights the players on literally everything is making playing for the Bengals feel like it might be an ordeal. Mims was the last 1st rounder in 2024 to sign with the team that drafted them. Certainly looks like Stewart will be the last 1st rounder to sign their rookie contract this season, assuming he eventually does...even as the slotted structure of these contracts are supposed to make them easy to do. But nothing comes easy with this front office ownership. Everything is just a long, drawn-out slog that comes with losing a lot of potential goodwill from the players toward the front office. It's really a bad look. Would love it if one day Bengals players gush about their front office the way Henry does for the Ravens and Warner does for the 49ers. That kind of praise for ownership has to have the entire rosters ready to bust through a brick wall for their respective organizations.

Excerpt from an article in The Athletic: The size of the Bengals’ scouting staff has been a criticism of the organization for decades. So, when the team enters this season netting two extra assistants following scout Christian Sarkisian leaving to become general manager at Northwestern, it’s notable. It also comes four months removed from the director of player personnel Duke Tobin saying this about his scouting group: “If I thought we were missing something, I would definitely add more.” The Bengals still face a cavernous gap with the rest of the league, and specifically the AFC North. That’s as easy to find as a link on the team directory page. There are differences in how teams categorize and list their scouting and analytics staffers, but they generally categorize them into research and strategy and player personnel. Combining those groups, here are the general numbers of employees in those divisions. • Ravens: 36 • Browns: 35 • Stealers: 27 • Bengals: 9

Guess it's possible that there might be something unknown going on, but Stewart certainly had a good pre-draft character grade around the NFL. It's one reason why Dallas almost selected him with pick 12. Stewart's dad certainly seems bewildered by the unusual contract language. Here's the thing. These agents compete for the same group of clients, so there's no way Stewart's agent will okay him signing a contract with this language. If he allowed the Bengals to get away with this, the NFLPA would be all over the agent for allowing a bad precedent to be the set for future rookie contracts around the league. It would be a professional stain that would follow Stewart's agent around forever. So the Bengals need to drop this weird contract language since it's never going to fly. All they are doing is pissing away valuable practice time with Stewart.

I hate that the Cardinals took Walter Nolen one pick ahead of the Bengals. Rare chance to get a good pass rushing interior lineman...almost.

Probably will switch around some going forward, but telling that they are beginning the next stage with fairchild and Patrick as the OG starters.

The more points the offense can score, the more average your defense can afford to be. Burton only caught 4 passes last seasons in very limited playing time, but he averaged 26.8 YPC. That's how explosive he can be. Now just imagine that with a higher volume of targets. The faster the Bengals can score a TD, the fewer times Burrow will get knocked down. Burton STILL has the best hands in the WR room.

Not sure some fans even realize how much a breakthrough here could transform the Bengals already strong offense; Burrow is bullish on wide receiver Jermaine Burton after a tough rookie year Burton was benched twice. "I think he's stepped up this year so far. Has taken it very seriously. Has matured, it seems like," Burrow said. "Based on the conversations that we have had, he's in a good spot mentally and physically. And he's been working hard, which is exciting to see." …

No doubt. While folks argue back and forth in this thread about who's right and who's wrong, franchise tag options down the road, etc...hardly anyone bothers to mention what all of this contract drama does for the concentration and morale of the rest of the roster. We went through this same stuff last training camp and all the way up until the opener with no deal getting done, then the team goes out in the opener and suffers a horrible loss to New England in a home game. Then they end up missing the playoffs by...you got it, one game. So I don't really care who's right and who's wrong...figure it out and get the contract done in a way that gets the whole roster fired up. I don't want the team to go to Cleveland and come back with another bad loss. We have been done that dark road too many times before.

Because we might want to get some of those team's players if they become free agents, assuming they don't have an objection to playing at below market guaranteed money rates of course.

Many close games come down to FG kicking. The Bengals need to be much better in that area if they hope to make the playoffs.

Why do you think they should go on the road and beat a team that was 14-3 in the reg season last year?

The Vikings were 14-3 last year and have one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL imo. You might ask what about their QB situation, but people said the same last year and they won 14 games playing in a really competitive division. Under no circumstances should the Vikings be the underdog to the Bengals in Minnesota. Sean Payton also has a good coaching staff, the best CB in football, and Denver is a very tough road environment. So the Bengals should be the favorites in the first 2 games and the underdog in the final 2 games. At least a couple of these games figure to be very close. It is vital that the Bengals get their FG kicking game back in order. Could be the difference in winning or losing a close game.

No point in making a prediction on this without knowing if Hendrickson will play or not, but... If Hendrickson is playing...I will say 3-1. If Hendrickson isn't playing... 2-2.