Shemar Stewart reportedly leaves Bengals mandatory minicamp amid contract disputes

Shemar Stewart still had yet to sign his rookie deal at this point of mini-camp with the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s now, because of that, not there at all per the latest reporting by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Per sources speaking to Schefter on Thursday morning, Stewart is no longer at mandatory minicamp for the Bengals. That’s with him still unsigned by the franchise after being the No. 17 overall pick for them in the 2025 NFL Draft.

“Cincinnati’s unsigned first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart now has left mandatory minicamp, per source,” Schefter tweeted. “Stewart had been attending team activities, but without a signed contract and with the Bengals asking for certain clauses, no longer.”

This comes after comments on Tuesday by Stewart about the negotiations regarding his contract. He didn’t hold back in what he said about his new team and how they’ve elected to go about doing their business so far with him.

“I’m 100% right. It should be a no-brainer,” Stewart said, via James Rapien of Sports Illustrated. “In Trey’s (Hendrickson) case, it should be a no-brainer, too…I’m not asking for nothing y’all have never done before. But y’all just want to win arguments more than winning games in my opinion.”

“I’ve been doing this for most of my whole life, and then all of a sudden it’s gone over something very simple to fix,” Stewart told to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It’s kind of disappointing.”

“I can’t say what I really want to say, but it’s their contract,” said Stewart. “They can do what they want with it.”

The dispute is based on language regarding future guarantees on the deal. Stewart wants the wording to remain the same as it has traditionally been, while Cincinnati wants to work it so that it may void those guarantees if they so choose.

Stewart, who spent three seasons playing in college, appeared in 37 games for Texas A&M. He posted 65 tackles, a dozen being for loss, with 4.5 sacks, four deflections, and two fumble recoveries, with one being forced, and a touchdown off of one of those. That earned him a first-round pick in the NFL Draft, with him being among the top-five favorites to win AP Defensive Rookie of the Year per the odds at FanDuel.

However, Stewart won’t be doing anything, let alone playing, until this matter with his contract is resolved. His absence from minicamp only complicates that further as Stewart, as well as Hendrickson, continue to negotiate what they can with the Bengals.