Trade talks and contract call-outs. Welcome to the central theme of the ‘25 NFL offseason. Especially for those sitting on the sidelines without a new dotted line to sign on, watching vets and rookies receive dream deals. Micah Parsons is brewing up a storm in Dallas because of Jerry Jones’ waiting game. The T.J. Watt holdout continues with the Steelers. But no other team seems to have it worse than the Cincinnati Bengals right now. With September rolling around faster than ever, not one, but two names are waiting for contract clarifications. Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart.
Talking about the Stewart situation, Bengals HC Zac Taylor had said, “There’s a first for everything. Every year, you kinda learn something new in this position, and this is just one of those things that the players have managed really well. We keep the team moving, and when he jumps on the field, that’ll be great for our team.”
Shemar Stewart has been attending meetings, showing up to the offseason training programs. But he’s notably not practising, even walking out of the last mandatory minicamp day. The reason? As per reports, the Bengals front office is trying to rework the fine print in his contract to “allow the team to void future guarantees.” But Stewart wants his contract to be the same as the team’s last two first-rounders: Myles Murphy and Amarius Mims. With Trey Hendrickson’s contract dispute also going strong, the Bengals are now facing major heat.
On ESPN Milwaukee, veteran insider Adam Schefter had a hot take on the matter. As Schefter put it clearly, “Well, this is not what you want this time of the year when you have situations like this and when you have two situations like this. That’s not ideal going into the offseason. You want peace and quiet. You want non-distraction.” Trey’s been pursuing a bigger payout and a longer deal since last year. But with the front office’s silence, Hendrickson finally decided to stay away from the OTAs and the minicamps. And the longer the Bengals make them wait, the less ideal it becomes for the team, as per Schefter.
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As Schefter further added, “If it goes on into the start of training camp, that’s even less ideal. And if it goes on to the start of the preseason, that’s even less ideal. And if it somehow lingers to the regular season, which I couldn’t imagine, but if it does, shame on them. Shame on them because you don’t want these sorts of issues marring, clouding, disrupting, distracting your season in any way, shape or form.”
While the Bengals do have some time to chalk out the details and come to a conclusion for these two contract disputes, the longer they wait, the more it will harm the team’s synergy going into the new season. As for the head coach, Zac Taylor is trying to manage the situation as best as he can.
Zac Taylor & the Bengals caught between contract disputes
For a head coach prepping his team for a new season, an incomplete roster on the field is a big problem. As Shefter had put it best, “coaches hate distractions. These are distractions. And it’s okay to have distractions on Wednesday, June 18th, but it’s another to have them on August 18th.” For Trey Hendrickson, coming off his best season in the NFL, and pulling 17.5 sacks for two seasons in a row, the delay in a decision has been unpleasant.
Even the locker room is feeling the heat now. As Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. had recently said, “We got a very close locker room, first and foremost. Guys have talked to Trey. Guys have talked to Shemar. Ultimately, it’s the NFL. It’s a business. It’s part of it. These types of things happen. But I would imagine these deals get done hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Syndication: The Enquirer Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart looks on during the Bengals Rookie Mini Camp on Friday, May 9, 2025 at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. Cincinnati , EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xAlbertxCesare/ThexCincinnatixEnquirerx USATSI_26130288
While Zac Taylor was happy to see Hendrickson back in May, he was still trying to diffuse the fire the front office was facing. As he had notably said back then, “I think every situation is unique, so again, every personality is different. Every player is different. The timing, everything’s different. You just adapt as you go with that stuff.”
But if your star defensive end is missing from the offseason action, how do you adapt to it? There’s even the matter of the rookie defensive end Stewart remaining an unassigned draft pick. And Taylor has been trying to manage that situation as well. As he said at a recent presser, “I think for all the rookies, you’d like them to be out on the field. But certainly, there’s things that happen over the course of an NFL career, and this is one of them right now.”
As the contract disputes linger on, there are also trade rumors brewing for both Hendrickson and Stewart. Both of them, as per recent reports, have been linked to potential trades with the Bears. For now, though, the league is patiently waiting and hoping for a swift conclusion to both of these narratives. How long until these matters are settled?
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