if you want the language cause others have it thats fine,
then put in the same player amenities'same,
maybe buy your own stadium , like i hear other teams do
maybe pay your veterans like other teams do
scouts maybe higher a few not related to brown or tobin, ya know lnon retaled people that can be held accountable when they drop the pooch
i heard that other teams do.

**** A bit long (sorry) but perhaps the best thing I have read about this.

The Shemar Stewart drama distracts from an even bigger question

By Charlie Goldsmith

Published: Jul. 21, 2025 at 2:28 PM EDT

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The details of the Cincinnati Bengals’ negotiations with Shemar Stewart’s agent — which owner Mike Brown said have risen to the level of “silliness” — have the entire spotlight on what could go wrong.

When asked about the negotiations, Brown went to a level even darker than a perceived worst case scenario for a talented edge rusher who only recorded 4.5 sacks in college.

“It’s a very peculiar thing,” Brown said. “It isn’t about money. That’s been agreed to for months. It’s about the guarantee in the case of if he were to do something contrary to the discipline levels of the league that resulted in his being suspended or our saying we’re not going to accept that. I don’t think that’s going to happen ever. That’s what holding it up.”

Brown continued, “His agent wants it to be so if he acted in a terrible fashion, this is all hypothetical, something that rises of the level of going to prison, that we would be on the line for the guarantee for future years that hadn’t been paid. Our position is no, if that happens, we’re not going to be. We’re not going to be paying someone that’s sitting in jail. That’s not what we’re going to do.”

The point that the Bengals’ brass worked to hammer home at the pre-training camp luncheon was that Stewart is getting bad advice. This isn’t about money. Brown was very confident that Stewart will eventually sign his rookie deal.

But the entire process has distracted from the most important part of all of this. No one has any idea whether or not Stewart can actually play.

“Shemar needs to be here,” Duke Tobin said. “The No. 1 thing a young player can do is have a fast start and have a good rookie season. That normally translates into a long and productive NFL career. He needs to be here and get the work done. He can be a good piece of our football team, which is a championship caliber football team. He can provide a lot of good reps for us. But he has to be here to do that.”

Al Golden made it clear that whenever Stewart is here, he should have a role right away on the 2025 Bengals. Golden stressed that defensive ends with Stewart’s size, speed, versatility, physicality, “ballast” and flexibility are “rare in this business.” Golden called a defensive end with Stewart’s skill set “a piece that we covet in this system.”

👇 blah blah blah 👇

When asked about Stewart’s role in 2025, Zac Taylor also focused on the combination of tools that the Bengals’ first-round pick brings to the table.

“Explosion. Strength. He’s a great run defender,” Taylor said. “He’s physical. You saw him manhandle a lot of guys against the run. That’s great to have. You see all of the pass rush stuff. I know people have talked about the statistics. He affects the pass game. I’m excited to get him here, get him in our system and get a chance to continue to develop them.”

That all looks great on paper. But as the Bengals look for Sam Hubbard’s replacement, there are plenty of defensive ends on the roster with tools. Joseph Ossai popped last December. Is he about to take the next step? Is this the year that Myles Murphy figures it out?

Behind Trey Hendrickson — who carries plenty of questions of his own as he hasn’t reported yet — the Bengals’ defensive end room is completely hypothetical. No player is more hypothetical than Stewart. There’s a world where he’s second on the team in sacks, and there’s a world where he essentially redshirts in 2025 like Murphy did back in 2023.

“Shemar really has to learn our core fundamentals and implement everything he has learned off the field onto the field,” Golden said. “That’s going to take some time.”

The contract drama, which has followed every single major Bengals’ contract negotiation over the last few seasons, has taken attention away from the fact that Stewart is so unproven. Three months ago, Stewart was known as the guy who had 4.5 total sacks in college. Now, he’s known as the rookie who’s taking a very confusing stance in contract negotiations.

Stewart stated his piece back in June when he said the Bengals were more interested in winning negotiations than winning Super Bowls and then left mini-camp the next day. Clearly, some feathers have been ruffled as the Bengals attempt to implement a contract structure that would be new for the Bengals but has existed around the NFL.

“Everyone evolves but Cincinnati?” Tobin said. “That doesn’t make any sense to say that Cincinnati doesn’t get to evolve their contracts.”

If the Bengals’ pass rush clicks, then that group will be able to make some questions in the secondary. If the pass rush struggles like it did outside of Hendrickson in both 2023 and 2024, then the Bengals won’t be contenders.

The big decision on draft day was between Stewart, pass rushing defensive tackle Derrick Harmon or safety Malaki Starks. Harmon or Starks each would have filled more pressing positions of need than Stewart. BJ Hill is the Bengals’ only pass rushing threat at defensive tackle, and Geno Stone returning on a pay cut is the plan at free safety.

The Bengals picked Stewart because if he reaches his upside, then that’s a player at a more premium position who would be providing $20-to-$30 million of value. As Golden says, players with Stewart’s raw skill set are incredibly difficult to find.

The problem is that Stewart still has a lot to learn. He hasn’t started that process yet or taken a single practice rep in a Bengals’ uniform.

I already posted that article in this thread. Charlie Goldsmith always does a good job.

Shemar should be firing his agent sooner than later….wait until it’s known what a rat his agent is. Typical rat. Slimeball rat.

San Francisco wanted Shemar at pick 11 I think it was? But because of who his (rat) agent is, they decided not to draft him apparently.

29 minutes ago, IKOTA said:

San Francisco wanted Shemar at pick 11 I think it was? But because of who his (rat) agent is, they decided not to draft him apparently.

Well that's interesting, where are you getting that from? I thought the party line was that he'd changed agents. If there was No Switcheroo then it's kind of on the team.

30 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

Well that's interesting, where are you getting that from? I thought the party line was that he'd changed agents. If there was No Switcheroo then it's kind of on the team.

I remember some talking head saying something to that effect few days ago on the tv. Only thing I can find is a Todd McShay clip that was filmed predraft not the talking head I heard on tv.

On 7/22/2025 at 9:05 PM, spicoli said:

Really, you should just start and end every one of your posts with “bad management” and leave it at that since that’s all you ever really have to say anyhow. Just say that and spare us all the rest of your regurgitated diatribes.

That would be great…thanks in advance 👍

I would love to not have to point out the obvious and glaring deficiencies of the Bengals management. But they don't seem to be capable of running a top notch organization. So they didn't get their veterans that they wanted to keep extended before free agency began in March. Hendrickson is still unsigned. They are the only team in the league that hasn't signed their first round pick. They just don't seem to be capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. Maybe it's the small staff, maybe it's just paralysis by analysis. But decision making isn't their forte. The good news is that doing better isn't hard and is in fact pretty easy.

Making this official for the thread archive

It's time to let this monster loose ...

Time to get excited again for what Shemar can become ...

Duke on Shemar ...

✨ The Chef's Kiss on his contract was the $18.97 million for #97. #Numerology

The AI Grok likes it 🔥

It will be interesting to see the weight Shemar plays at. Is he going to be the 265 edge rusher, or the 280 outside/inside player?

He seems like a good kid!

9 minutes ago, Jason said:

It will be interesting to see the weight Shemar plays at. Is he going to be the 265 edge rusher, or the 280 outside/inside player?

I'll guess they bulk him back up a bit. He's still working on his pass rushing chops but he is already a good run defender. So he could step right into Hubbard's shoes on early and running downs. We don't have much interior pass rush so by necessity one of the DEs will have to play inside a good bit. Stewart seems like the first candidate for that.

1 hour ago, sparky151 said:

I'll guess they bulk him back up a bit. He's still working on his pass rushing chops but he is already a good run defender. So he could step right into Hubbard's shoes on early and running downs. We don't have much interior pass rush so by necessity one of the DEs will have to play inside a good bit. Stewart seems like the first candidate for that.

Yes, they clearly want to take advantage of Stewart's positional versatility. Just hours after he signed his contract and participated in his first practice, he lined up at 3 different positions on the DL. Once, he shifted inside to tackle from right DE with Knight taking his place, with the left EDGE then dropping back into coverage.

Not sure what he weighs at the moment, but I would guess they would like Stewart's playing weight to be about 280 pounds.

All well and good. I'm still on the Missouri bandwagon though...."Show Me" that I was wrong about you, Mr Stewart. I'll eat the crow if you serve it up, I promise.

1 hour ago, Dr Tarzan said:

All well and good. I'm still on the Missouri bandwagon though...."Show Me" that I was wrong about you, Mr Stewart. I'll eat the crow if you serve it up, I promise.

Damn near everyone said his main issue is being raw. I don't like that they're kind of forced to start him immediately for lack of options. Think he'd benefit from the ability to come along at his own pace.

I think he’s an edge setter initially and playing inside on passing downs. His explosiveness should help him generate some interior pressure.