Shemar Stewart Reacts to Rookie Regular-Season Debut With Bengals

CINCINNATI — Shemar Stewart checked his first NFL regular season game off the rookie milestone marker this week and discussed his performance with the media after Sunday's 17-16 road win over the Cleveland Browns.

It's left Cincinnati in first place in the AFC North after a week of NFL play for the first time since the 2023 season.

"I felt great. I mean, you know, practices are going to be easier than ever going against Joe [Burrow] and all the guys on offense. So, you know, I think we're ready for this," Stewart said in front of his locker.

The Bengals' 2025 first-round pick posted no tackles or official stats in the game, but he did get three pressures on QB Joe Flacco and didn't appear to get lost in the speed of his 35-snap opening outing.

Cincinnati gave up a 16-play TD drive on Cleveland's opening possession, but allowed just nine points the rest of the game. All in all, Stewart played very well to start his career, ranking fourth among all Week 1 rookie outings thus far with an 88.9 Pro Football Focus grade.

"It's just mistakes we did," Stewart said about those opening issues. "We stayed true to who we are, cleared the mistakes, the mental errors, and we were pretty much great after that."

Cincinnati's run defense was a huge factor in that impressive run, allowing Cleveland to have a long run of just five yards on 24 carries. According to Hayden Winks, the Browns became just the third team in the past three seasons to get stifled like that on the ground.

The most maligned unit in the AFC North has the Bengals sitting atop those standings.

“Yeah, very calm, collected. That's what I saw," Bengals head coach Zac taylor said about the defensive rookies. "There was a time we had two young linebackers out there; two rookies out there when (Bengals LB) Logan (Wilson) came out. I'm watching just to see their body language. Didn't miss a beat. I think there's a lot of guys that fit that description. All those guys that got in there and got a chance to play. It was not too big for any of them. That's why they're here, because they're all built like that. And so we're going to have to call on all these guys as the season progresses.”

Shemar Stewart repeating the theme of staying calm and cool throughout the game pic.twitter.com/70Fw3Wkwc6
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) September 7, 2025

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