Report: Shemar Stewart, Bengals at Odds Over Key Contract Trigger

A new part of Cincinnati's top draft contract.

Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart, left, smiles with Bengals defensive tackle Dante Barnett during the Bengals Rookie Mini Camp on Friday, May 9, 2025 at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. / Albert Cesare/The Cincinnati Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Shemar Stewart is still watching the Bengals' voluntary workouts from the sidelines in Cincinnati and Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio offered deeper insight into the contract issue this weekend.

The Bengals are reportedly including guarantee barriers that were not in the most recent contracts for their other first-round picks.

"The Bengals and Stewart are haggling over language regarding the potential voiding of his future guarantees. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bengals want to include a phrase that causes a default in the current year to trigger a default in all remaining years," Florio wrote. "The problem is that the contract signed by last year’s first-round pick, tackle Amarius Mims, does not include the language that the Bengals are now attempting to insert into Stewart’s deal.

"Mims was taken one spot lower in 2024 (No. 18) than Stewart was picked in 2025 (No. 17). The key phrase, we’re told, also doesn’t appear in contracts signed earlier this year by receiver Ja’Marr Chase and receiver Tee Higgins."

Florio noted other teams have installed this practice with contracts, but they pay those players more upfront money in the signing bonus than Cincinnati does.

Whatever the issue, a young player is missing valuable time on the field while all of this plays out. Head coach Zac Taylor and the rest of the team want to start fast in September. Getting in as many reps together as possible factors into that.

Cincinnati is two weeks away from the start of mandatory minicamp as the top of its draft class remains sidelined. Check out Florio's full story here.

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