Welcome to the NFL, Shemar Stewart. Officially.
Despite being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals with the No. 17 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the rookie has been living life without an NFL contract. It’s been a long, winding road of uncertainty and frustration for Stewart and the Bengals as their relationship got off to a rocky start.
Both sides can put that behind them now.
On July 25, Stewart and the Bengals officially agreed to a fully-guaranteed, four-year, $18.97 million deal that includes a $10.4 million signing bonus, a person with knowledge of the contractual details confirmed to USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon.
Whether Trey Hendrickson remains in the building or not, the hope is that Cincinnati found a star pass rusher in the draft. Now that Stewart’s under contract, they’ll have a chance to see what he can do on the field.
Here’s what to know about Stewart’s first NFL contract:
Shemar Stewart contract details
Stewart is signing a four-year, $18.97 million deal with the Bengals.
It carries an average annual value (AAV) of around $4.7 million and a signing bonus of $10.4 million, according to Spotrac. The total value of the deal is about $8 million less than what No. 10 pick Colston Loveland received from the Chicago Bears. However, it’s about $4 million in total value more than the No. 32 pick, Josh Simmons, received from the Kansas City Chiefs.
That is because NFL rookie contracts are slotted, meaning the player’s draft position determines their contract. They are fixed and designed to limit haggling in negotiations to things like offset language.
Of course, Stewart was a rare exception and experienced plenty of roadblocks along the way to a deal.
Shemar Stewart holdout
The Bengals usually limit their contract disputes to veteran players seeking big extensions, but Stewart became the exception this offseason.
It became clear this would be a problem when he arrived at rookie minicamp only to observe and not practice. From that point on, the alarms had been going off in Cincinnati as the season inched closer. Stewart vowed he wouldn’t practice before his contract was finalized, a negotiating tactic to avoid injury and apply pressure to the organization.
The standoff reached its boiling point during mandatory minicamp, the last step in the offseason before training camp. Stewart, similar to Hendrickson, took his story to the media as minicamp began on June 10.
‘I’ve been doing this for most of my whole life, and then all of a sudden it’s gone over something very simple to fix,’ Stewart told reporters. ‘It’s kind of disappointing.’
The 21-year-old was frustrated with the lack of progress in negotiations, which stemmed from Cincinnati’s interest in inserting a new contract clause. That change in contract language would’ve allowed the Bengals to void future guarantees in Stewart’s contract, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Despite trying to stay ready, Stewart acknowledged at the time that he was missing valuable practices reps. The rookie ended up leaving minicamp on June 12.
Regardless, those issues are now in the past. It’s back to football for Stewart and the Bengals.