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Extreme post-draft twist gives the Packers a golden opportunity to land a player they should absolutely love to attack huge need

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Wendell Ferreira | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 2:34 PM ET

Go back and look at pre-draft projections. Anyone would say that the Green Bay Packers loved Texas A&M edge defender Shemar Stewart . He's an athletic freak, with a perfect Relative Athletic Score, but his college production left to be desired—how many times did the Packers take guys with this exact profile at the top of the draft? The Cincinnati Bengals drafted him with the 17th overall pick, though, and Green Bay ended up with wide receiver Matthew Golden in the first round.

But what if a unique and extreme case could put Stewart once again on the Packers' radar? That's not as absurd as it generally would be.

So far, Stewart hasn't signed his rookie contract with the Bengals yet. The team wants to set precedents to add voids to guarantees in the contract, but the player and his representation are not budging. Now, it's been reported that Stewart is even considering disrupting the NFL Draft model to legally achieve a return to college football.

The Packers could theoretically be in the mix

If Shemar Stewart doesn't sign a contract before next year's draft, the player would be eligible to be selected for another team in 2026, and the Bengals wouldn't receive any type of compensation. To avoid that scenario, the Bengals have two realistic options. The first one is to sign Stewart, winning or losing the contract language battle.

The second can happen until August 5, and that would be trading Stewart's draft rights to another NFL team. It's unusual for NFL teams to trade draft rights, certainly not as frequent as it is in the NBA, but it has happeened—Eli Manning and Philip Rivers between the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers is a good example.

Now, there are several questions left. First, if the Bengals would be truly willing to trade their first-round draft pick instead of just signing him to a standard deal. Second, it's how much it would cost.

The Bengals would argue that Stewart is a first-rounder and he was taken in 2025, so a 2026 first-rounder would be the lower potential return. On the other hand, teams could argue that this is an extreme situation, and the Bengals will risk losing the player and the entire investment, so a lower return could be fairer.

Why it would make sense for the Packers

General manager Brian Gutekunst doesn't like to trade future draft capital, and rightfully so. However, this is a truly unique situation. Stewart would play his entire rookie deal for the Packers, which makes this type of investment much more enticing.

Sure, the Packers would risk having a bad season and giving up a better pick than what Stewart went for, and possibly in a better draft class. But Green Bay has a good roster, and barring a significant amount of bad injury luck, the draft pick tends to be in the low 10s or, more likely, in the 20s.

Moreover, putting more resources on the edge group makes sense—the Packers had a need there, and the bigger investment was spending a fourth-round pick on Barryn Sorrell.

Ultimately, this is a highly unlikely sequence of events. The Bengals will most likely find a way to sign Shemar Stewart and keep his rights. But it's such an extreme case that it's worth thinking about resolutions, and how it could involve the Packers.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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