Was bitter ex-Bengal Trey Hendrickson holding Shemar Stewart's development?

The Cincinnati Bengals defense has a completely new look through the first two weeks of the 2026 NFL season, but the subtraction of certain players from 2025 may have as much to do with it as the addition of others.

It's easy to point to the domination of a new player like defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and attribute all the improvement of the Bengals defense to that blockbuster trade. While Lawrence's domination is responsible for the bulk of the defense's improvement, it doesn't tell the whole story.

The departure of certain players, even those who managed to do more than hold their weight when they were on the field, could have played a massive part in the struggles that the Bengals defense faced in years past.

Former Cincinnati Bengals star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson may have been a detrimental piece of the locker room

Following the Bengals' Week 2 win over the Houston Texans, in which the defense allowed just six points, Bengals beat writer Mike Petraglia of CLNSCincy.com shed light on the locker room impact of former star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson on the Sports with Strawberry Ice YouTube channel.

Petraglia explained that Hendrickson and fellow former edge rusher Joseph Ossai may have contributed to a slow start for Stewart, who was already behind the 8-ball.

Stewart's contract holdout and injury trouble already put him in an uphill battle when it came to succeeding at the highest level. Petraglia reports that Hendrickson and Ossai may have piled onto that by belittling or disparaging the organization to Stewart.

While Petraglia is close to the team and his reports are to be trusted, evidence from how Hendrickson's last few seasons with the Bengals played out corroborates this notion.

Prior to the 2025 season, Hendrickson didn't just hold out for a contract extension. He held press conferences at the practice field in street clothes, thus providing a massive distraction for the rest of the team. After a month of distractions, the Bengals eventually gave in and revised his contract, providing him with a $14 million raise.

This raise was met with a season in which only seven games were played, which was the main concern with players of Hendrickson's age. Hendrickson then proceeded not only to leave the Bengals, but leave them for their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens.

This sequence of events following a 2024 season in which he led the league in sacks would corroborate Petraglia's report that he wasn't particularly fond of the organization. It's not hard to see how having that dissenting opinion in the same room as an impressionable young player like Stewart could have negative effects on the start of his career.

It isn't time to run victory laps on the Shemar Stewart side of things just yet

Bengals faithful are high on Stewart after the Week 2 victory over the Texans due to an extremely impressive sack, but it is important to note that Stewart only played five snaps in the win.

Stewart's athleticism, which was the main reason he was drafted in the first round after having just four sacks throughout his entire college playing career, was on full display when he took down Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Watch as Stewart chips the running back on the other side of the field and covers a ridiculous amount of ground to hawk down Stroud, who is not a particularly slow quarterback:

With just one additional tackle on top of this impressive sack, Stewart hasn't fully bloomed. Even if Stewart's sample size is limited, the early success of Bengals rookie edge rusher Cashius Howell further corroborates Petraglia's reports. Howell, who is extremely similar to Stewart in that he is an uber-athletic edge rusher from the Texas A&M Aggies, has seen early success.

Howell is already sixth in the NFL in quarterback hurries through two weeks. While Howell may have succeeded regardless of who else was in the defensive line room with him, coming into a room with new additions like Lawrence, Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe may have contributed to an energy more conducive to winning and team effort.

Stewart has room to improve in what has quickly become a crowded defensive line room, and if Petraglia is correct, that improvement is much more likely to occur.

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