Bengals' Shemar Stewart pick still looks like a disaster one year later

It is difficult to put into words just how bad a decision the Cincinnati Bengals made when they selected Shemar Stewart in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft. 

And this is far from hindsight, as most Bengals fans feared that exact scenario before it happened. 

For a team that needed immediate and significant help along the defensive line in rushing the passer (outside Trey Hendrickson) and stopping the run, the front office inexplicably selected an apparent physical talent that did not show he could do either. 

Thank you, RAS scores!

Now, Cincinnati continues to reap the benefits of that decision while sticking with the tried-and-true game plan of hoping for development, while still looking for more defensive line help in this year’s draft, even after signing free agents in that department. 

Shemar Stewart failed to fix Bengals’ biggest defensive problem

According to NFL Draft analyst Brett Kollman, Stewart ranked 34th among edge rushers in pass rush win rates in the 2025 class. 

Kollman’s findings, among others, were borne out by Stewart’s lack of pass rush production that culminated in 4.5 sacks in his college career. 

The Bengals were, and still are, banking on Stewart’s RAS scores to develop into pass rush production.

Perhaps the team saw Stewart as a good run defender, you say. Well, that could not have been the case as the former Texas A&M Aggie recorded 21 run stops on 575 rush defense snaps for a rate of 3.7%, which would’ve ranked 203 out of 204 edge defenders in the last 10 years.  

PFF’s first-round rookie grades bore out the poor decision as Stewart had the worst ranking among players off the board on Day 1. 

If a team drafts a first-round defensive lineman who is deficient at run stops and pass rushing while also having well below average production, it can’t come as a surprise that the defense as a whole may struggle. 

Unfortunately, the rookie class lived up to the low expectations set immediately after the 2025 draft. And that party got started early, in the first round. 

Bengals ignored better options, and it’s costing them

Cincinnati had ample other options who could have immediately contributed to a defensive-needy squad. But they chose

Not only were there other, better options at 17, but selecting Stewart might have prevented them from taking a defensive end later in the draft. 

The front office and the team would have been better off selecting Dylan Fairchild in the first round. At least that would have left open a greater possibility for them to take a more worthy pass rusher on Day 2.

Other players who went well after Stewart in the draft went on to have productive and promising rookie seasons. Some of those names include, but are not limited to, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Princely Umanmielen, and Josiah Stewart. 

Ironically, Josiah Stewart embodies the combo player the team is apparently looking for this offseason. 

Bad pick continues to derail Bengals’ defensive rebuild

The Stewart pick had immediate ramifications for the 2025 season. However, the echoes remain deafly loud as we head into the 2026 NFL draft and the new season. 

After spending two first-round picks on edge rushers in the past two drafts, one would assume that defensive end would not be a priority. Also, after using a second and third-round pick on defensive tackles in 2024, it's safe to assume Cincinnati has one of the best defensive line units in the NFL. 

And yet, voila, here we are again, as if lessons are unlearnable. 

Moreover, despite spending in free agency on defensive end Boye Mafe and tackle Jonathan Allen, the Bengals still need defensive line help, which is why Rueben Bain remains an option in the first round, along with Keldrick Faulk, and any other defensive end. 

Furthermore, if the Bengals had hit on Stewart, and any, just one, of the other defensive linemen drafted on Days 1 and 2 of the draft since 2023, they would be in a far better position than they are today. 

What’s that you say? Are the Bengals selecting a cornerback in the first round? 

Someone must ask how selecting a cornerback with a premium, top 10 pick, helps the league’s worst rushing defense and pass rush? 

Pick exposes deeper problem in Bengals’ draft strategy

Bengals fans know that the organization does not care about “grades” from outside sources when it organizes its draft board. But having “grades” on a player rather than wanting him or not can be just as cripling. 

We have cited so many times that Liam Eichenberg is a reason that fans should take grades from some draft experts with a whole Frosty the Snowman-sized grain of salt. And it is easy to question grades when you can look at the prospects for yourself and quickly ascertain that what the experts say doesn’t match what you see. 

Some of us argued that Eichenberg would get a QB injured and a GM fired. Well…

There are no grades imaginable that would have made it worth it for a team to draft him, let alone in the second round. 

Now, we can apply that same train of thought to some Bengals players currently on the roster. Hopefully, that won’t be the case after the 2026 draft. 

The Bengals should have, must have, had grades higher than the one they had on Stewart. If not, hopefully, their entire grading system saw significant changes this offseason. 

The Cincinnati Bengals made the worst pick of the 2025 NFL draft’s first round. Now that they head into this year’s edition, the team cannot afford to make a similar mistake.

Whomever the Bengals select with the 10th pick should be a player who can positively impact the outcome of the game, no matter what pre-draft grades or perceived untapped potential accompany him. If not, the Bengals’ personnel department will have failed again in this Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase era of the franchise. 

Possibly for the final time if the personnel department is not careful.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow