If the Cincinnati Bengals had any faith in 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart at all, would they have made Boye Mafe their highest-paid free agent? Would they have drafted Stewart's Texas A&M teammate, Cashius Howell, in the second round at the same position?
These are rhetorical questions of course. Yes, Stewart was besieged by injuries as a rookie, but even before he hit the field, he had a contract dispute, and clearly wasn't ready to play when he was healthy. Save for some nice flashes in his debut, Stewart has been a flat-out bust to date.
Is there hope for Stewart to salvage himself in Cincinnati? Or do he and the team need a fresh start?
I once thought Mafe would be a possible catalyst for Stewart to get the most out of his considerable talents. While a training camp injury was certainly a setback, the Bengals' stacked defensive line gave Shemar plenty of time to get back to 100%. And he just ain't it, apparently. If he was, he'd be playing more.
Shemar is comfortably DE5 out of 5 on Cincinnati's active roster
Forget being the fifth-best defensive end in his draft class as the third draftee at his position. Shemar Stewart doesn't have a clear path forward to be better than the fifth-best defensive end on his own team.
That might be a problem if you're the 17th overall pick in the draft, no? And look, I would not play him over Mafe, Murphy, Howell, or Cedric Johnson. The Bengals are doing the right thing by letting Stewart ride the pine.
But it's inexcusable by all parties involved for a second-year first-rounder to play zero snaps in Week 3 and four snaps this past Sunday.
Stewart is a legitimate generational athlete. At 6'5", 267 pounds, the 22-year-old is a marvel of explosive potential.
Shemar Stewart was drafted in round 1 pick 17 in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 10.00 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1 out of 2029 DE from 1987 to 2025.https://t.co/CX9z2WcL7t pic.twitter.com/c3UP2fDFZX
— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 25, 2025
Just as it was in college, however, Stewart's upside is theoretical. He only managed 4.5 sacks in three years of ball at Texas A&M. He was a missed tackles machine for the Aggies, too, which is precisely what Cincinnati's current defense does not need right now.
Stewart isn't even a hard edge-setter in the running game. O rat least he hasn't shown it at the professional level with any kind of consistency. Certainly not enough to see a significant role on game day.
Maybe Week 5's duel with the Dolphins in Miami is a good trial run setting for Stewart to get more snaps. The Fins are theoretically the easiest foe remaining on Cincinnati's schedule after all. We could see a blowout, lots of backups playing, and a shot for Stewart to make a pun-intended splash in the general South Beach area.
But more likely than not, Stewart will continue to drift into relative obscurity. All that potential. All those tools. Just chilling on the sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium.
What a shame. And Stewart hasn't even gotten enough reps to be a viable trade asset. This is a true pickle with no immediate resolution in sight. Unless he defies the odds and has a Myles Murphy-esque, second half of Year 3 ascent, Stewart is most likely one of the bigger busts in Bengals franchise history.
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