NFL insider shows how Bengals have made little progress with Shemar Stewart

I hope you all enjoyed your [checks notes] two summer weeks without any Bengals drama. It's been quite the offseason in Cincinnati – a ton of deals with star players got done, and some others, uh, didn't.

And while we all spent time chewing their finger nails to the bone over the Trey Hendrickson contract situation, for a moment there, we almost that the Bengals actually had another edge rushing contract dispute on their hands. "Credit" where it's due: no one outplays the Bengals at their own game.

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So right now, to recap, the Bengals have neither of their star pass rushers under contract. It's a bold strategy, for sure. And if you put any stock into the weekly Albert Breer NFL reports, that doesn't sound like it's going to change any time soon. His latest reporting on where things stand with Stewart is a tough read.

The current Shemar Stewart situation sounds ... not great

"Then, there’s rookie Shemar Stewart’s status—he’s still unsigned and fighting over default language tied to the guarantees in his contract. That one, it seems, has turned into a staring contest, with Stewart unwilling to allow the team to set a new precedent in his contract that could be bad for guys down the line. In the backdrop of all this is Joe Burrow, who’s stridently supported his teammates in these situations, and has done a lot to help change the face and image of the franchise. The Bengals, for their part, also expanded their scouting department, which has long been the league’s smallest, this offseason. So between that, and the monster contracts that Burrow and Chase signed, there has been an effort to change on the team’s part. How far will that go? The Hendrickson and Stewart situations might show us."

Any time you can try and bully your first round pick – and eventual Trey Hendrickson successor – before he even plays a snap of competitive football for you, you've just gotta do it. That's just good business. And like the Bengals proved last year, who even needs a defense when you can just rifle off five straight wins to end the year? Scoring 44 points per game in the NFL, all season long, is a totally realistic expectation.