Cincinnati Bengals edge Shemar Stewart leaves minicamp
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Cincinnati Bengals edge Shemar Stewart leaves minicamp
The drama between the Cincinnati Bengals and first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart continues. Stewart is one of four unsigned first rounders in the NFL, but his situation seems to be the most contentious.
On Thursday, things got a little worse. Stewart had been in attendance throughout OTAs and mandatory minicamp, but today he was a no-show.
“He wasn’t here today, so we just focused on the guys that were here,” head coach Zac Taylor said Thursday after the Bengals finished up their three-day minicamp.
A source tells Ben Baby of ESPN that it’s not about contract length or money. Baby writes, “the dispute is centered on interpretation of language in the contract that could affect guaranteed money.”
Taylor would obviously wish that Stewart was in attendance, but he says he understands the absence.
“For all the rookies, you’d like them to be on the field,” Taylor said. “But certainly there’s things that happen over the course of an NFL career, and this is one of them right now.”
Stewart aired his frustrations publicly this week
On Tuesday, Stewart voiced his displeasure with Bengals’ management. Apparently, it’s little things that are holding up the contract signing and he would rather just get it done and get into camp.
“In my case, I’m 100% right,” Stewart said. “I’m not asking for nothing that’s never been done before. In [the team’s case], y’all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games, in my opinion.”
Taylor said that the two have spoken since Stewart made his thoughts public and that they had “good communication” afterwards.
“Number one, we want to protect our team in our locker room,” Taylor said. “I understand when there’s frustration there. That’s how he chose to do it and that’s his prerogative. And we look forward to getting him back in the fold.”
It doesn’t sound nuclear at this point, but the Bengals cannot be overly thrilled that their top pick (at a position of dire need) decided to stop showing up to minicamp practices.
Stewart’s agency even spoke up about the situation
Yesterday, Andrew Brandt, former Vice President of the Green Bay Packers said that there is a hold up in the contract language, but he got the picks wrong.
“Bengals want more stringent default language in their rookie contracts than what they had last year, with 17th pick, and are trying to impose on Shemar Stewart, the 18th pick,” Brandt tweeted on X. “Stewart and agent have good reason to fight it and not sign, for now. We will see come training camp.”
So, LAA Sports & Entertainment – the agency representative for Stewart – responded.
“Other way around,” the agency responded. “Shemar is the higher pick at 17.. they want his contract different even though he is the higher pick.. last year they picked 18.. even more reason.”
It’s not so much what the agency said, it’s more the fact that they said anything at all. Usually, both sides keep these things under a decent lid. Regardless, the fact that Stewart and his camp had words for the Bengals this week and then he didn’t show up for the final day of mandatory minicamps says that there is tension between the team and the player.