Mike Brown addresses Shemar Stewart holdout

The Bengals have failed to get first-round edge rusher Shemar Stewart under contract. And, of course, they believe that’s not their fault.

But it is. They opted to suddenly change their contract language regarding the voiding of guarantees. And it wasn’t a 2025 change; they used the old language in the new contracts signed by receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Then, when they drafted Stewart, it was time to change the language.

The Bengals made this unilateral change without any corresponding concession. Instead, they’ve adopted a clear and firm take-it-or-leave-it vibe.

Owner Mike Brown addressed the situation in a pre-training camp session with reporters on Monday.

“A very peculiar thing,” Brown said, via Charlie Goldsmith of Fox19. “It’s not about money. It’s about the guarantee in the case of if he were to do something contrary to the discipline levels of the league. I don’t think that’s going to happen ever. That’s what’s holding it up. It’s never happened as long as I can remember. His agent wants it to be if he acted in a terrible fashion — this is all hypothetical — something that rises to the level of going to prison, we’d be on the line for the guarantee.”

No, his agent wants the same deal that everyone else got before the Bengals suddenly decided to change the language for Stewart, with nothing in return.

The very term that Brown now opposes was standard Bengals practice, for years. And now, for whatever reason, they want to make a change. With no flexibility. No compromise.

Shut up and play.

If the Bengals start 0-2 or 1-3 or whatever (again), hopefully the customers won’t blindly line up behind the laundry. They’re stuck on an obscure term addressing a situation that, as Brown admitted, has never happened for as long as he can remember.

It doesn’t take a long memory to remember that the Bengals have a storied history of making bad business decisions.