John Sheeran recaps Shemar Stewarts comments from Tuesday and what they actually mean about Cincinnati Bengals ownership.
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00:00Shamar Stewart said the quiet part out loud about the Bengals and didn't have everyone
00:03turning heads, but in this video, I'll explain why he was the one who had to say it and where
00:07things go from here. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,
00:15and gee, you think things could be going a little bit better with Shamar Stewart right now?
00:19Mandatory minicamp for the Bengals began this Tuesday, and Shamar Stewart, as expected,
00:24did not participate in the opening practice session, even though he was there,
00:27unlike Trey Hendrickson. Nothing has necessarily changed here as Stewart is refraining from
00:31practicing for the first time in his NFL career until he gets that contract signed, and he will
00:35not sign until the Bengals remove default language within his contract that would make future guarantees
00:40easier to be voided, thus setting a new precedent for Bengals contracts going forward. And this has
00:45been going on for over a month, and it does appear that frustration is reaching a maximum for Stewart
00:50himself. Stewart spent several minutes talking to reporters after practice about what is going on,
00:55and it's not necessarily the way he was saying things, but the specific things that he was saying
00:59that does tell how he's feeling at the moment. And one quote in particular really stood out to me
01:04because I guarantee you there is someone watching this video who feels the same way as Stewart feels
01:09right now. When asked about his general conviction about why he's taking the stance, Stewart said,
01:14quote, I'm 100% right. I'm not asking for nothing y'all have never done before, but in y'all case,
01:20y'all just want to win arguments more than winning more games. I guarantee you there is a Bengals fan
01:25in your life. Maybe it's you who has said or at least thought of the idea of Bengals ownership in the
01:31front office caring more about winning negotiations and winning contracts rather than winning games.
01:36But I have never, not once ever heard a player share that sentiment in the team's own locker room.
01:42And it's not just a player. It's a player who's not even under contract. He's never played a single
01:47NFL snap. He's never taken a single practice rep in the NFL. But of course, that makes sense,
01:51right? If there's anyone who has the freedom to say such a thing, it's of course the guy who's
01:55technically not even an employee of the team yet. It's just so genuinely funny to me that this guy is
02:00one of the newest players on the team. He's one of the newest faces in the entire building. He's only been
02:04here for a month and he's already thinking like a fan of the team over the last 30 years. Because of
02:09course, the Bengals biggest issue since Mike Brown took over in the early 90s has been the team's
02:13frugality. And this has only been exposed more over the last three to four years when the Bengals have
02:17realized that they got to pay all other stars on the team and still build a competent roster. And the
02:21nickling and dimming of their own players or other teams are finding new ways to institute more cash
02:26into their operations and finding new ways to manipulate the salary cap. It's just putting the Bengals
02:30further and further behind the chains. Their lack of financial flexibility and their own
02:33willingness to change in that regard is only going to get more and more exposed as more and more cash
02:38gets pumped into this league. And again, Stewart has only been here for a month and this is already
02:42how his mind thinks. Now, how this all concludes is very simple. Stewart will eventually sign. It may
02:47not be tomorrow. It may not be next week. It may not be next month. It may not be until right before
02:52the regular season begins. But he will put pen to paper because in classic Bengals fashion, when they know
02:57they have the overall leverage advantage in this situation, they are going to utilize it. And the only thing
03:02that Stewart has left to do is exactly what he did Tuesday afternoon. Paint the Bengals as the
03:07absolute villain. And of course, there's part of me that definitely agrees with that. And there's
03:11definitely a lot of you that would agree with that as well. But the Bengals have never actually cared
03:15once about how they are perceived, no matter how much it actually impacts their ability to win a
03:20Super Bowl. The thought that actually interests me at this point is what the perception of Shamar Stewart
03:24is. Like, does this make him more relatable to Bengals fans? Or is his overall defiance something of a
03:28turnoff while he hasn't actually done anything in his NFL career yet? But I guess that's for you
03:33guys to decide. So let me know down in the comments below, what do you think about Stewart's quotes
03:36and how you think this entire situation is going to be resolved? Because believe me, we are still
03:41weeks, if not months, away from that happening.