There is a worst-case-scenario for the Bengals and Shemar Stewart and it's not pretty for either side...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses the worst-case-scenario for Cincinnati Bengals' first-round-pick Shemar Stewart amid a contract dispute.

Transcript

00:00There is a worst-case scenario between the Bengals and Shamar Stewart that some people are now

00:03talking about, but in this video, I'll explain how it would be so costly for Stewart that he

00:07should not even consider it for a second. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z

00:15Sports Cincinnati here, and since it's been brought up multiple times around the internet,

00:18I figure we might as well talk about the doomsday scenario with Shamar Stewart and the Cincinnati

00:23Bengals. Stewart has not signed his rookie contract yet, and everyone in Cincinnati already knows

00:27that. He doesn't want to agree to certain default language that the Bengals want to include in his

00:31deal to start a new president for rookie contracts and just any contract going forward. It's a very

00:36contentious situation, and I don't think either side is going to budge anytime soon, but if the

00:40worst-case scenario does happen and Stewart just decides to never sign that deal and the Bengals

00:45never even adjust it, he can re-enter the 2026 NFL draft. And by doing so, he could avoid playing

00:51for the Bengals altogether as the Bengals would not be allowed to draft him in the 2026 draft. And

00:55honestly, if this actually does happen, I highly doubt the Bengals would want to draft him again

00:59anyways. But all of this is true. This is actually an option that Stewart can take if he's actually

01:03serious about holding out for the Bengals and not giving in to any sort of demands. The downside for

01:08the Bengals is very simple. They only had six picks in this year's draft, and if this were to happen,

01:12they would only basically have five, as they wouldn't have a first-round pick to use for the next

01:15four to five years. As for Stewart, this would prevent him from signing the deal with Cincinnati,

01:19but he wouldn't be allowed to play football for the entirety of 2025 until 2026 comes around. He can't go

01:24back to Texas A&M and play another year. I don't even think he could play anywhere in college unless

01:28he, like, sues the NCAA. But again, this is a last-resort scenario for Shamar Stewart if he's

01:33really serious about this. And no one is alleging that Stewart is actually considering this as an

01:37option. I mean, his agency and his camp has not been shy about sharing anything regarding this

01:41situation and putting it all out to the general public. But let's just assume for a second that he

01:45is considering this. It would be a terrible idea for him to execute. And I'm not just saying this from

01:50the perspective of he needs to play for the Bengals in 2025. I'm saying this from the perspective of

01:55him losing out on a significant amount of money. And yes, he's concerned about his long-term

01:59prospects. He's concerned about his long-term earning potential and just making sure that

02:03his guaranteed money is set in stone regardless of what happens to him. But if Shamar Stewart puts

02:07pen to paper right now, he is guaranteed over $18 million for the next four years if he doesn't do

02:13anything that would default his contract. That is the benefit of being drafted in the middle of the

02:17first round. And that number is obviously going to go up next year as the rookie wage scale increases

02:20due to the salary cap. But that's what he would be making right now. Or that's the total amount of

02:24money that he would be guaranteeing himself for the next four years. If he were to skip the 2025

02:28season and set himself to not play another snap of football until the summer of 2026, who knows how

02:35the NFL would view him as a prospect, as a player, as someone that they would be willing to draft

02:39anywhere in the early parts of the draft? Because he was drafted 17th overall after three years of

02:44college football. Go back to 2021 in that draft class when you had several players who opted out

02:50of the 2020 season due to COVID. One of them happened to be Jamar Chase. It was Jamar Chase,

02:54Panay Sewell, Micah Parsons, Rashawn Slayer. They were all drafted in the first 13 picks of the draft

02:59having not played the 2020 season. They already sat out a year and they were still top 13 picks.

03:05They made that decision knowing that they were likely to be high draft picks anyways,

03:08and no one was blaming them for not playing a year of college football when there was a lot of

03:12unknowns about COVID. It would not be the same case for Jamar Stewart. He would not be setting

03:16himself up to be drafted 17th overall or maybe even in the top 20. If he were to sit out an entire

03:21year due to contract disputes, by the way, he's disputing a lot of language that is in contracts

03:26for other NFL teams. I don't know how the NFL would view that, and I doubt they would view that

03:29in a positive lens. Now, maybe Jamar Stewart would still be drafted in the first round after not

03:33having played football for an entire year. Would he go as high as 17th overall? I highly doubt it,

03:38because not only do you have this red flag for him not wanting to play football, he was already

03:42kind of a risky prospect in terms of an actual player. He was already not a lock to be drafted

03:46in the top half of the first round like the likes of Chase, Sewell, Slater, and Parsons were because

03:51they were just better prospects in general coming out of college. Stewart's entire player profile is

03:55surrounded by the idea that he needs more reps to develop, and if he's not going to get on-field

03:59reps for an entire year, is that even worth a first-round pick? The difference between being drafted in

04:04the middle of the first round one year and then being drafted outside of the first round entirely the next

04:08after you re-enter the draft can be $10 million or even more. That is such a huge risk that I really

04:13doubt Stewart would actually want to take, and especially, I don't think his agent would want

04:16to take him, because mind you, Stewart pays his agent. So when you see this topic come up around

04:20the Jamar Stewart debate, know that it is an actual possibility for him to take, but is it a smart one?

04:25Absolutely not.

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