Shemar Stewart is preaching ABSOLUTE FACTS about the Bengals ownership

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran recaps Shemar Stewarts comments from Tuesday and what they actually mean about Cincinnati Bengals ownership.

Transcript

00:00Shamar Stewart said the quiet part out loud about the Bengals and didn't have everyone

00:03turning heads, but in this video, I'll explain why he was the one who had to say it and where

00:07things go from here. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,

00:15and gee, you think things could be going a little bit better with Shamar Stewart right now?

00:19Mandatory minicamp for the Bengals began this Tuesday, and Shamar Stewart, as expected,

00:24did not participate in the opening practice session, even though he was there,

00:27unlike Trey Hendrickson. Nothing has necessarily changed here as Stewart is refraining from

00:31practicing for the first time in his NFL career until he gets that contract signed, and he will

00:35not sign until the Bengals remove default language within his contract that would make future guarantees

00:40easier to be voided, thus setting a new precedent for Bengals contracts going forward. And this has

00:45been going on for over a month, and it does appear that frustration is reaching a maximum for Stewart

00:50himself. Stewart spent several minutes talking to reporters after practice about what is going on,

00:55and it's not necessarily the way he was saying things, but the specific things that he was saying

00:59that does tell how he's feeling at the moment. And one quote in particular really stood out to me

01:04because I guarantee you there is someone watching this video who feels the same way as Stewart feels

01:09right now. When asked about his general conviction about why he's taking the stance, Stewart said,

01:14quote, I'm 100% right. I'm not asking for nothing y'all have never done before, but in y'all case,

01:20y'all just want to win arguments more than winning more games. I guarantee you there is a Bengals fan

01:25in your life. Maybe it's you who has said or at least thought of the idea of Bengals ownership in the

01:31front office caring more about winning negotiations and winning contracts rather than winning games.

01:36But I have never, not once ever heard a player share that sentiment in the team's own locker room.

01:42And it's not just a player. It's a player who's not even under contract. He's never played a single

01:47NFL snap. He's never taken a single practice rep in the NFL. But of course, that makes sense,

01:51right? If there's anyone who has the freedom to say such a thing, it's of course the guy who's

01:55technically not even an employee of the team yet. It's just so genuinely funny to me that this guy is

02:00one of the newest players on the team. He's one of the newest faces in the entire building. He's only been

02:04here for a month and he's already thinking like a fan of the team over the last 30 years. Because of

02:09course, the Bengals biggest issue since Mike Brown took over in the early 90s has been the team's

02:13frugality. And this has only been exposed more over the last three to four years when the Bengals have

02:17realized that they got to pay all other stars on the team and still build a competent roster. And the

02:21nickling and dimming of their own players or other teams are finding new ways to institute more cash

02:26into their operations and finding new ways to manipulate the salary cap. It's just putting the Bengals

02:30further and further behind the chains. Their lack of financial flexibility and their own

02:33willingness to change in that regard is only going to get more and more exposed as more and more cash

02:38gets pumped into this league. And again, Stewart has only been here for a month and this is already

02:42how his mind thinks. Now, how this all concludes is very simple. Stewart will eventually sign. It may

02:47not be tomorrow. It may not be next week. It may not be next month. It may not be until right before

02:52the regular season begins. But he will put pen to paper because in classic Bengals fashion, when they know

02:57they have the overall leverage advantage in this situation, they are going to utilize it. And the only thing

03:02that Stewart has left to do is exactly what he did Tuesday afternoon. Paint the Bengals as the

03:07absolute villain. And of course, there's part of me that definitely agrees with that. And there's

03:11definitely a lot of you that would agree with that as well. But the Bengals have never actually cared

03:15once about how they are perceived, no matter how much it actually impacts their ability to win a

03:20Super Bowl. The thought that actually interests me at this point is what the perception of Shamar Stewart

03:24is. Like, does this make him more relatable to Bengals fans? Or is his overall defiance something of a

03:28turnoff while he hasn't actually done anything in his NFL career yet? But I guess that's for you

03:33guys to decide. So let me know down in the comments below, what do you think about Stewart's quotes

03:36and how you think this entire situation is going to be resolved? Because believe me, we are still

03:41weeks, if not months, away from that happening.

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