'Back There All The Time' - NFL Executives Discuss Bengals' 2025 NFL Draft Class

Cincinnati started with a big swing taking Shemar Stewart at Pick 17.

Cincinnati Bengals first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart shares a laugh during a press conference, Friday, April 25, 2025, at Paycor Stadium in Downtown Cincinnati. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Athletic's Mike Sando canvassed NFL front offices this week for executive's thoughts on the 2025 NFL Draft. First-round pick Shemar Stewart got a split reaction from the higher-ups.

Cincinnati selected Stewart with the 17th overall pick last Thursday after he had 4.5 total sacks at Texas A&M.

“He is the epitome of a high-risk pick with bust potential,” one exec said to Sando. “People are going to say Von Miller, but he doesn’t make many plays. Runs (fast), and there is no production.”

Meanwhile, another executive likes the pressure production Stewart amassed in college (39 pressures in 2024).

“It is not all sack production,” another exec said. “It is total pressures, pressure rate, and then physically, it’s their three-cone, their 10-yard shuttle, broad jump, those things. The dude the Bengals took had very low sack numbers but was back there all the time.

“They had to have someone opposite Hendrickson That is just straight need, and they took the big 4-3 edge rusher on the board at the time.”

A final executive commented on Cincinnati taking Demtrius Knight Jr. at Pick 49.

“They did it with the middle linebacker (Demetrius Knight Jr.) too,” the exec noted to Sando. “He is not really complete, but he is a b**** coming downhill and whacking people. Where they picked and where they are as a team is different. Anytime you’ve got a quarterback like Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Tom Brady and those guys, you can take some risks because they will fix it for you.”

The Bengals are hoping some of these big swings lead to the franchise's first Super Bowl title.

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