The surprising standoff between the Cincinnati Bengals and first-round pick Shemar Stewart now has more context.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the Bengals came up short due to a disagreement on percentage of money paid as training camp roster bonuses:
“The training-camp roster bonus has become a device for putting a sizable chunk of the player’s pay in his pockets in future years, early in the season. In this case, the numbers offered by the Bengals reflected a lower percentage than the 17th overall pick received in 2024.”
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While the rookie wage scale typically prevents hiccups between first-rounders and teams these days, little details like this can still slow things down. The fact the Bengals are reportedly coming in lower than last year’s percentage is both a problem and seems to provide an easy fix.
Of course, this is likely only one side of the conversation. While it’s true most first-rounders have yet to sign their contracts right now, the vast majority were still practicing at rookie minicamps, whereas Stewart watched from the sideline in Cincinnati.
As a whole, the fact something like this only seems to happen consistently to the Bengals won’t be lost on fans. There’s no reason to think it stretches on much longer, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, either.
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