All of the first-round picks from April’s NFL Draft have finally signed with their teams.
Shemar Stewart, who was selected No. 17 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, on Friday finally signed his rookie contract with the team. The signing ended a standoff that lasted for three months.
The Bengals had wanted specific language included in Stewart’s contract that would prevent him from receiving his full amount of guaranteed money if he were to face serious behaviorial issues, such as suspensions. The Bengals had not included such language in the contracts for rookies previously, which is why Stewart balked at their desire to set a precedent with him.
The matter was resolved with a compromise. Stewart allowed the language to be included in his contract, while the Bengals agreed to pay $500,000 of Stewart’s $10.4 million signing bonus up front rather than have it deferred until December.
Stewart had accused the Bengals’ front office of being more concerned with winning arguments rather than games. Stewart attended but ended up leaving the Bengals’ mini-camp without participating in it. There was even some talk that he might return to college. However, that all just turned out to be talk, and Stewart is now set to join the Bengals for training camp.
Stewart played three seasons at Texas A&M. He had 31 tackles last season with the Aggies, including 1.5 sacks.
