The Most Important Things We Heard and Saw from Bengals First-Round Pick Shemar Stewart in His Practice Debut

CINCINNATI – There was no easing-in period for Shemar Stewart, either on the field or in the locker room.

Two days after the Cincinnati Bengals’ first-round pick finally signed his contract, he was taking first-team reps on defense and learning the ropes on special teams while sweating out three months of inactivity.

“It doesn't matter who you're repping with, it's just getting him out there and getting him practicing,” head coach Zac Taylor said when asked about Stewart jumping right in with the ones.

“It's great just to get him in individual (drills) and the fundamental stuff,” Taylor added. “We got him some reps. He probably got over 10 reps in there. We'll watch the tape and keep building from there. It's just good to get out here Day 1 and get him back acclimated with the team.”

Though Stewart was working out at Texas A&M, it was clear the heat and the uptick in activity was wearing on him. There was a lot of heavy breathing, slow moving and water dousing.

After practice, there was no easing in either, as Stewart did a 10-minute interview that displaced his teammates with adjoining lockers due to the number of media members circling around him.

Here are the most interesting things Stewart had to say after relenting on his objection to a clause the Bengals put in his contract that could future guarantees and coming to terms Friday night.

On the reason he gave in and accepted the clause he had been fighting against for months ...

“I just needed to get on the field as soon as possible. I needed to start learning, start getting better. There is a long season ahead. I needed to be ready.”

On any regrets he has about the process …

Nope. I try to live my life with no regrets. 

On the comments from owner Mike Brown and director of player personnel Duke Tobin that he was getting bad advice from agent Zac Hiller …

“I want an agent that’s more of a pit bull. You feel me? I don’t want an agent that can easily be pushed over. I want someone that’s going to war (for) me, so I don’t have to do any of the hard work behind the scenes. In terms of that, I think Zac is a great agent. He handles business very well. That’s my dog for life.”

On his relationship with the organization after the contentious start …

“It was never no me vs. anybody. We just didn't see eye to eye. At the end of the day, I'm happy to be a Bengal. I'm happy that I got drafted here. We have a long relationship ahead of us. There's no bad blood. It's just how things go sometimes.”

On whether the process was hard on him mentally …

“Oh, yeah. I was in a dark space for a little bit, not talking to anybody, just chillin' by myself. But I couldn't sit there and cry about it.

On the wild speculation that he might not sign with the Bengals and go back to Texas A&M for another season …

“The internet makes up some crazy things sometimes. I've just got to sit back and laugh at it sometimes because I don't know where they get it from. I mean, I can't go back and work at my old college scene? I mean, stupid.

“That (draft) process was too long. I'm not doing that ever again.”

On playing football again on a day when the heat index soared about 100 …

“Man. Y’all see me? I accidentally put some Gatorade in my face thinking it was some water. Burnt my eyeballs a little bit. Other than that, the heat got me at first, but I got used to it.”