NFL: Bengals President Calls Shemar Stewart’s Holdout “Foolishness”

While speaking to reporters at the Cincinnati Bengals Media Luncheon that was held earlier today, team president Mike Brown said it was “foolishness” that the organization had not yet signed first-round pick Shemar Stewart.

“It’s still something that is not completed. We feel that there’s really no reason why it shouldn’t be,” Brown said. “The issue seems to be about guaranteed money… From our vantage point, it’s a form of foolishness. It just ought to get done.”

Brown then clarified that the issue has to do more with contractual guarantees rather than base salary.

“There is no dispute over the money. It’s just a dispute, in his mind, that I guess if he did something that really deserved punishment, that he would want the whole contract guaranteed,” he explained. “We would want to say, ‘Well, it isn’t guaranteed if you did something to that level.’ In that case, we would step in and take away the guarantee. [That] doesn’t mean that we couldn’t agree to pay it, but we wouldn’t be forced to pay it. I don’t want to pay somebody who hypothetically could be in jail for four years at this level of pay. Do I think any of that’s going to happen? No, and that’s why I use the word foolishness.”

“We’re sitting here arguing over something that is pretty remote, I ask myself sometimes why the hell we’re doing it, but we are and he’s doing it too and at some point, we’ve got to put this stuff behind.”

Mike Brown spoke for more than 2 minutes about Shemar Stewart situation. pic.twitter.com/1Df7axv8Dd

— Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) July 21, 2025

Duke Tobin, the Bengals’ director of player personnel, also spoke about Shemar Stewart’s contract holdout at the same luncheon.

“I don’t blame Shemar. He’s listening to the advice that he’s paying for,” Tobin told reporters earlier today. “I don’t understand the advice. I don’t agree with it. I’m not the one paying for it. But that’s where it is.”

Tobin added that he didn’t think the Bengals were doing anything wrong by Shemar Stewart.

“If I thought we were treating him unfairly, it would be a different story,” Tobin explained. “But we’re treating him fairly with all the rest of the draft picks in this year’s draft.”

He also emphasized how important it is for a rookie like Stewart to be practicing and getting in reps with teammates.

#Bengals owner Mike Brown on Trey Hendrickson: pic.twitter.com/DftBLOXcps

— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) July 21, 2025

“He needs to be here,” said Tobin. “The number one thing that a rookie needs is a fast start and a good, productive rookie season. That normally translates into a long, productive NFL career. So I would encourage him to be here and start building the bond with his teammates and getting his career started because he can be a factor for a championship-caliber football team, and you don’t always get that opportunity.”

“We want to get him in here and working,” Mike Brown said. “He’s a good young guy, and he’s someone we think will be important to our team this year.”

Brown also offered some clarity on Trey Hendrickson’s ongoing contract negotiations.

“We aren’t going to trade Trey. We’re working to get Trey signed as we speak here,” he said. “I think it’ll get done. It is the way Trey can be. We like Trey as a person. He’s a good guy. But when it comes to these negotiations – and we’ve been through a few of them with him – he pushes hard. He gets emotional. We never have an easy time of it, but there’s one thing that is consistent: it always gets done. I think this one will, but we’ll see. I’ve been proven wrong before.”