New report uncovers another detail explaining why Shemar Stewart has not signed his rookie contract with Bengals

Shemar Stewart remains unsigned by the Cincinnati Bengals a month after the club drafted him with the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Stewart is refraining from practicing with the team until his camp and the Bengals agree to terms on his rookie contract.

The value of the contract is not why Stewart hasn't put pen-to-paper just yet. It's the language of the deal that has both sides at an impasse.

More specifically, it's an individual phrase that's causing the problem.

ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio reports Cincinnati's offer to Stewart includes a phrase that "causes a default in the current year to trigger a default in all remaining years." The default would void future guarantees in Stewart's four-year deal.

On top of Stewart not wanting this language in his deal, it's a phrase that isn't included in 2024 first-round pick Amarius Mims' deal and, according to Florio, isn't even a part of the mega-contracts Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins signed back in March.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bengals want to include a phrase that causes a default in the current year to trigger a default in all remaining years. The problem is that the contract signed by last year’s first-round pick, tackle Amarius Mims, does not not include the language that the Bengals are now attempting to insert into Stewart’s deal. And Mims was taken one spot lower in 2024 (No. 18) than Stewart was picked in 2025 (No. 17).

Stewart understandably doesn't want his deal to be any different linguistically than Mims', especially as a player taken one spot higher in the draft order. First-round picks receive fully guaranteed contracts, but guarantees can be voided if certain situations arise like suspensions. 

The Bengals appear determined to further protect themselves with contracts going forward and are using Stewart's deal as the new precedent, or at least they're attempting to do so.