When it comes to rookie contracts in the NFL, there isn’t usually too much negotiation involved. Thanks to the collective bargaining agreement from 2011, every draft contract is essentially slotted due to the rookie wage scale, which means each player knows how much they’re going to make as soon as they get drafted.
What this means is that negotiating a rookie contract shouldn’t be that difficult, well, unless you’re the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals seem to invent new ways to frustrate their fans (and players) every year, and that’s once again happening this year.
The team’s first-round draft pick, Texas A&M pass rusher Shemar Stewart, showed up at OTAs, but he didn’t participate in a single workout this spring because he still hasn’t signed his contract. He also showed up for the first two days of minicamp during a whirlwind 48 hours where he watched practice before abruptly leaving prior to Thursday’s final session of camp. He didn’t do any on-field activity during those 48 hours, but he did make time to complain about Cincinnat’s front office, which seems to be a theme for Bengals players this offseason.
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We know this is not about the money. Both sides know that Stewart would be signing a four-year, $18.94 million rookie contract that’s fully guaranteed. The 17th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft was complaining because the Bengals threw a curveball in their contract negotiations with him by adding new language to his deal that the Bengals didn’t use with their past two first-round picks. The team essentially wants to add a default clause, according to former NFL team executive Andrew Brandt. This would allow the Bengals to void future guarantees if he were to get into trouble (this could be a suspension for on-field conduct, off-field conduct, an arrest or anything else the Bengals can think of). Normally, a first-round pick gets a fully guaranteed four-year contract, but this would give the Bengals some wiggle room to potentially get out of that if he were to get into trouble at any point during his four-year deal.
Stewart is adamantly against the language being in his contract.
“I’m 100 percent right,” Stewart said about his stance.”I’m not asking for nothing you all have never done before, but in you all case, you all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games.”
This has created arguably the most acrimonious standoff between a rookie and his team since Joey Bosa held out of Chargers‘ training camp for 31 days in 2016, which is the longest holdout ever under the 2011 CBA.
The Bengals are playing hardball with Stewart, and in the past, that has usually worked for them, but this time around, Stewart does have at least one bit of leverage that rookies in the past didn’t have: Money.
- Stewart’s leverage. For most of NFL history, rookies were generally broke when they entered the league, so many of them would quickly sign their first contract so they could get the signing bonus in their pocket. That’s not the case with Stewart, though. The former Texas A&M star collected plenty of NIL money in college, so he definitely isn’t broke, which means he can afford to wait things out until he can get the Bengals to cave, if that’s what he wants to do.
If the Bengals aren’t willing to change the language in the contract, that next question becomes: How far would Stewart be willing to go to get what he wants?
He was asked that question this week and he said “it depends.”
Stewart is the prototype of the money and player empowerment era that’s swept up college football recruiting and college football and has now fully arrived at the NFL. He was a high-profile recruit by the time he was a sophomore in Florida, debuting as the No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2022 in the early rankings (he finished ranked No. 9 overall). He’s comfortable in the spotlight. He’s comfortable talking money — a player of his ilk in college football would have commanded at least $1 million the last few transfer portal cycles, and you can bet Texas A&M’s NIL collectives spent a pretty penny to keep Stewart in the system after its infamous, best-class-money-can-buy 2022 recruiting class fell apart.
Stewart can hold a grudge, too. There’s a famous card room story about Stewart from his days as a recruit.
Stewart was a heavy LSU lean and made Baton Rouge his first stop on his official visit circuit. LSU’s operations staff misspelled Stewart’s name on one of the many handouts and greeting pamphlets recruits receive. LSU was never a factor for Stewart after that.
Stewart signed with Texas A&M in somewhat of a Signing Day stunner after hometown Miami made a big push. Texas A&M is believed to have paid more. Stewart’s people, I’ve heard this week, are driven by the principle that they want what they think they deserve and they will not compromise if they don’t get it.
Stewart has several options and he could quickly turn into the Bengals’ (and NFL’s) worst nightmare if he decides to go with a nuclear option of re-entering the draft next year, a process that is outlined in article 6 of the CBA.
Here’s a look at two of his options he would have if he doesn’t want to sign with the Bengals:
- He could re-enter the NFL Draft. If Stewart doesn’t sign his contract and he doesn’t play football at all in 2025, he could re-enter the NFL Draft in 2026. If he went this route, it means that any team could draft him next year, except for the Bengals. If a player were to successfully pull off a power move like this, it could throw a wrench into the future of the draft. It would set up potential situations where a player could sit out if he got drafted by a team he didn’t want to play for. Stewart would essentially have until November to make a decision on this. He’s allowed to sign his rookie contract until the Tuesday following Week 10. If he doesn’t sign it by that date, then he’s not allowed to play in 2025. There’s another upside to this strategy: If Stewart went undrafted in 2026 — maybe his situation with the Bengals scares teams away — then he would become an undrafted free agent following the 2026 draft and he’d be free to sign with any team.
- He could ask for a trade. If the Bengals won’t give him the contract language he wants, maybe someone else will. There is a unique deadline in place for any team that wants to trade a rookie: A deal has to be made at least 30 days before the start of the regular season, so a decision would have to be made here by Aug. 5 or Aug. 8 (The CBA isn’t clear if it’s 30 days before the start of the first game of the regular season or 30 days before the Bengals’ first game of the season). The Bengals don’t like being bullied, so this scenario would probably be unlikely, but it would be an option.
Those are the two most practical options. Stewart could also try to return to Texas A&M for his senior year, but the NCAA has rules against a player returning to college once they’ve been drafted, so he would likely be facing a legal battle if he went this route. Stewart could also head to the CFL to stay in football shape, but he likely wouldn’t go that route, because if he signs with another professional football league, that would give his NFL rights to the Bengals for the next three years.
The most likely scenario is that the two sides agree to a deal, but as the Bosa situation proved, these things can drag on. When the Bengals are dug in on something, they don’t usually budge, so it will be interesting to see who wins this multi-million dollar game of chicken.
The Bengals have had a history of slow starts under Zac Taylor and part of that has had to do with contentious contract negotiations. Ja’Marr Chase sat out of training camp last year due to unhappiness with his contract and the Bengals offense looked out of sync to start the season.
Even Joe Burrow seems to be getting tired of the distractions. The QB was asked if Trey Hendrickson’s absence was a distraction and he answered with two words: “Of course.”
“Last year, we had two. This year, we have one,” Burrow said of the holdouts the Bengals have dealt with. “So we do have less. You’d love to have none, but that’s life in the NFL.”
If you’re scoring at home, that means the Bengals sack leader from 2024 (Hendrickson) and the pass rusher who’s supposed to complement him on the defense (Stewart) are both sitting out.
The Bengals had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season, and now, there’s a chance that Stewart and Hendrickson could both possibly sit out training camp, which certainly won’t make the unit better. It’s another frustrating offseason for Bengals fans, who are probably used to it at this point.
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Author: John Breech
June 13, 2025 | 9:30 am
