Trey Hendrickson isn’t the only Bengals player in a contract dispute with the franchise.
But while Cincinnati tries to level with Hendrickson the best it can to retain the All-Pro edge rusher, the Bengals’ front office is singing a bit of a different tune when it comes to unsigned-rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart.
“I think Shemar needs to be here,” Bengals executive Duke Tobin said on Monday. “I’m not going to blame Shemar. He is listening to the advice he is paying for. I don’t understand or believe or agree with the advice but I’m not the one paying for it. If I felt we were treating him unfairly as it relates to all the other draft picks in this year’s draft then maybe it would be a different story. But we are not. I don’t really understand where things are there.”
Cincinnati selected Stewart with the No. 17 pick in April’s NFL draft, but he has yet to sign his contract due to an issue he and his representatives have with the contract’s guarantees.
In what’s essentially a wild hypothetical, Stewart and his agency don’t want the franchise to be able to take back any guaranteed money.
“A very peculiar thing. It’s not about money. It’s about the guarantee in the case of if he were to do something contrary to the discipline levels of the league,” Brown said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen ever. That’s what’s holding it up. It’s never happened as long as I can remember. His agent wants it to be if he acted in a terrible fashion — this is all hypothetical — something that rises to the level of going to prison, we’d be on the line for the guarantee.
“If we get a player who does something unacceptable, guess what? I don’t want to pay him. I really don’t. If he’s sitting in jail, I don’t think I have to pay him.”
As a rookie, Stewart is supposed to have already reported to training camp. However, he posted to his Instagram story Monday a photo where he is working out with his former teammates at his alma mater, Texas A&M.
Also dealing with the All-Pro edge rusher Hendrickson’s contract dispute, the Bengals’ front office had its hands full responding to the media Monday.
While progress seems to be being made with Hendrickson, neither side looks to want to compromise in Stewart’s situation.
“We’re sitting here arguing over something that is pretty remote, I ask myself sometimes why the hell we’re doing it,” Brown said. “But we are, and he’s doing it too and at some point, we’ve got to put this stuff behind.”