PFF grades confirm what Bengals fans already knew about Shemar Stewart

Hopefully, this Cincinnati Bengals offseason is not full of Shemar Stewart discussions. However, we’re not off to a good start. 

In the 2025 NFL Draft, the Bengals bewilderingly selected Stewart, along with his questionable representation and bad production profile, with the 17th overall pick in the first round. 

How NFL prognosticators decided that he should be in attendance on draft night is a question they must ask among themselves. Moreover, it is an indictment of the scouting process as a whole that so many people can get some of these picks so predictably and spectacularly wrong. 

More importantly for Bengals fans, how Duke Tobin and his staff landed on Stewart as the pick is even more concerning. 

Nevertheless, with a year under his belt, Pro Football Focus confirmed what Bengals fans already knew, even before the draft. 

Advanced data confirms Shemar Stewart was a first-round disaster

Unsurprisingly to Bengals fans, those who actually watch college prospects ahead of the draft, and hopefully Cincinnati’s front office, Stewart was, by far, the worst graded player drafted in the first round last year. 

Stewart’s 41.0 grade was one of three ratings in the 40’s. The other two were 48.9 and 49.8, assigned to Jahdae Barron and Derrick Harmon, respectively. 

For what it’s worth, linebacker Jihaad Campbell, who was an obvious choice for the Bengals, was the fifth-best graded first-round rookie. The Philadelphia Eagles selected Campbell with the 31st overall pick. 

Meanwhile, Cincinnati is still frantically searching for linebacker and pass rush help after spending significant draft capital on those positions in last year’s draft. Go figure.

Trade, cap casualty season should, but won’t, include Stewart

Because we are fully in the mock draft, trade, and cap casualty portion of the offseason, what would those options look like for Stewart?

Unfortunately, due to the nature of a first-rounder’s contract, there is no chance the team can move on from Stewart in his second season. The team would incur a dead cap penalty of $15.5 million if they were to release him, and a $10.3 million penalty with a post-June 1 designation. 

The team would inherit a $7.8 million cap hit if they were to trade the second-year defensive end. 

Including Stewart on a deal for any of the Bengals’ dream trade list, which includes but is not limited to Maxx Crosby and Jeffrey Simmons, could get a potential deal over the finish line. However, we are talking about the Bengals front office here. 

The Bengals would never move on from a first-round pick in his second year. Moreover, they already have $11.2 million in dead money heading into next season, further adding another wrinkle that guarantees Stewart’s roster spot. 

Also, the Bengals’ personnel department would never admit defeat in signing off on a trade after the rookie season of a top-20 selection. 

Rethinking Stewart’s role in Cincinnati sans major move

We can’t count on Cincinnati’s front office moving on from Stewart, even though he fell well short of what expectations were for him in his rookie season. However, they should give it some consideration. 

There might be a team in desperate need of an edge rusher that is looking to add to the position. Ironically, the Bengals are one of those teams. But perhaps the team could look for a trade partner to move on from Stewart. 

A change of scenery for a former first-round edge rusher who played for a bad Cincinnati defense could be the narrative that would entice another front office to overvalue Stewart in a trade scenario. 

Still, you couldn’t expect any other team to give up a high draft pick or a valuable young player for Stewart, which should tell you everything about his value, now and then. 

The Bengals will ultimately continue down the path of going forward with Stewart, yet needing another edge rusher who is better than him. However, they should give serious consideration to playing Stewart full-time as a pass-rushing defensive tackle, which is where he showed the most promise last season. 

The most likely outcome for the Bengals is that they will cross their fingers and hope Stewart reaches whatever potential they thought he had when they took him. 

PFF’s grade a reminder and a warning for the Bengals

PFF ranking Stewart as the worst first-round performer is not shocking to anyone who follows the Bengals. But that will not persuade the team to stick with him for at least the next three years.

And Stewart will have diehard fans who will bring out the typical narratives of give him time, he’s still young, he was hurt, needed more of an offseason, it is the coaches’ fault, so on and so forth.  

However, while some of the fanbase can afford to cling to low expectations from former first-round draft picks, the front office must not. And PFF’s jarring grades are a reminder of that.