The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Shemar Stewart in the first-round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Stewart played for the Texas A&M Aggies in college football in 2025.
He is an edge rusher, and the Bengals drafted him to make sure he would fix the defense. One of the biggest issues for Cincinnati at the moment is that Stewart still has not signed his rookie contract and also defensive end Trey Hendrickson has yet to sign a contract extension. Cincinnati needs to get both of those guys taken care of before the start of the 2025 NFL season. With mandatory minicamp expected to begin later this week, will any of the Bengals defensive stars show up?
Cincinnati Bengals Rookie Shemar Stewart Not Expected To Potentially Show Up To Mandatory Minicamp Later This Week
NFL Nation on ESPN listed many different players who could be potentially missing mandatory minicamp this week. Not only could Hendrickson miss mandatory minicamp, but Stewart can very well miss it as well. It is kind of ridiculous that a rookie would be missing mandatory minicamp because he hasn’t signed his rookie contract by now. They said about the former Aggies player potentially missing minicamp this week,
“This is a unique situation because Stewart isn’t technically under contract. However, it effectively will be a hold-in if he misses mandatory camp because the rookie has not signed his participation waiver and is not partaking in drills because of a contract dispute, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
If the two sides can agree on the contract language, it should smooth things over with the team’s first-round pick. — Ben Baby”
It will look even worse for both sides if this issue lingers into training camp. The Bengals had one of the worst defenses ever during the 2024 NFL season. Cincinnati finished with a 9-8 record in 2024, but they just missed the playoffs. If the Bengals can get Hendrickson and Stewart signed and the defense is better in 2025, then Cincinnati could get back to the playoffs.
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