The Cincinnati Bengals and rookie contract holdouts – what could be more suspenseful than this? From Akili Smith’s 27-day saga in ’99 to Andre Smith fracturing his foot immediately after signing in ’09, it’s a jungle gym of negotiation history. But this time? Rookie DE Shemar Stewart isn’t just playing hardball. He’s rewriting the playbook, turning the tables with a move as rare as a perfect 10.00 Relative Athletic Score.
Tom Pelissero dropped the insider intel like a perfectly timed blitz. “No. And I think that that was really the rare part of this,” Pelissero revealed. “With Shemar Stewart flat out calling up the team, not just over his own contract situation, but also saying, ‘Hey. If it were me, I’d give Trey Hendrickson all the money. Like, here you go.’” Imagine that. A kid who hasn’t taken a single NFL snap, already advocating for the team’s All-Pro sack leader (17.5 sacks in ‘24!) while his own $18.97 M rookie deal sits unsigned. “But I guess that’s not how they operate,” Pelissero added wryly.
The crux? It ain’t about dollars. It’s about dragons – specifically, the void-year clause Cincy’s trying to saddle Stewart with. Pelissero broke it down: “The Bengals are trying to set a new precedent… default language that if you mess up once, it voids the rest of your contract.” Irony alert? “They have not historically had that language… because the Bengals have probably taken more chances from a character and background perspective… than anybody else.” It’s like suddenly demanding a purity test in a saloon known for outlaws.
Interesting insight from Tom Pelissero on the Shemar Stewart situation and his contract talks with the Bengals.
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Stewart’s stance is pure Texas grit. After skipping mandatory minicamp, he stated plainly: “In my case, I’m 100 percent right. I’m not asking for nothing that’s never been done before.” His target? The clean, precedent-setting deal given to Amarius Mims, last year’s 18th pick, playing on a standard $15.37 M fully guaranteed rookie contract. As Pelissero confirmed: “If they came to Shemar Stewart tomorrow and offered him the exact same contract language that Amarius Mims… had, Shemar Stewart would sign.”
The subplot thickens with Trey Hendrickson’s own $30 M+ extension standoff, making this a double-barreled defensive crisis. Veteran center Ted Karras voiced the locker room’s weary hope: “I don’t think… there’s not any harboring resentment… I really hope that both camps can figure this out because we have a really good team.”
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