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Ben Baby
CINCINNATI — Shemar Stewart and the Bengals agreed on his rookie contract, his agent, Zac Hiller of LAA, said Friday, as Stewart becomes the final first-round draft pick to reach a deal.
Stewart will ink a four-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $18.97 million, including a $10.4 million signing bonus, Hiller told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Stewart, a defensive end who was selected 17th in this year’s draft, is set to join the Bengals six days after the team’s rookies reported for training camp. Friday’s agreement ends a saga that started shortly after Cincinnati drafted the former Texas A&M standout. Stewart did not participate in the Bengals’ offseason workouts and was absent during the first week of camp because of a disagreement over language that could void the guaranteed money in the contract.
The two sides compromised to finalize the deal. Stewart will receive a more lucrative payout structure than previous picks at No. 17 for accepting the new language the Bengals placed in the team’s rookie contracts.
Earlier in the week, team president Mike Brown detailed the extent to which the void language could come into play.
“I guess if he did something that really deserved punishment that he would want the whole contract guaranteed, and we would want to say, ‘Well, it isn’t guaranteed if you did something to that level,'” Brown said Monday. “In that case, we would step in and take away the guarantee.
“Doesn’t mean that we couldn’t agree to pay it, but we wouldn’t be forced to pay it. I don’t want to pay somebody who hypothetically could be in jail for four years at this level of pay.”
Director of player personnel Duke Tobin said he believed the Bengals were one of the last teams to insert such language into their rookie contracts.
Cincinnati’s other five draft picks signed in time for the start of the team’s first practice Wednesday. Linebacker Demetrius Knightthe team’s second-round pick, finalized his deal last Saturday.
Stewart was not the first player to delay his start because of a dispute over his rookie deal. In 2018, linebacker Roquan Smith missed multiple weeks of training camp because of a similar dispute over void language in his rookie deal with the Chicago Bears.
During the Bengals’ offseason workouts, Stewart did not sign the team’s participation waiver while he tried to hammer out a deal that was troubled from the beginning. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, Stewart was offered a lower training camp roster bonus than Amarius Mims despite being drafted one slot higher than Mims was in 2024.
The Bengals still have one outstanding contract situation.
Defensive end Trey Hendrickson has not reported to camp as he hopes to get a new contract. He is entering the final year of his current deal and is set to make $16 million after coming off an All-Pro season.
