CINCINNATI — The Bengals are approaching July without Shemar Stewart or Trey Hendrickson in the fold. Stewart’s agent, Zac Hiller, addressed his client’s situation this week on SiriusXM with Christian Fauria and Solomon Wilcots.
Hiller noted his client just wants to be treated like all other Bengals in the past when it comes to contract structure. Cincinnati is reportedly trying to include default language in his deal that is not a part of Amarius Mims’ rookie contract.
“In the way that when you sign the contract and your money is guaranteed, let’s say, it should be guaranteed. And if there’s ways to get out of that it would not be as beneficial to the player,” Hiller said about why his client isn’t protected by the current offer. “Contracts are based on precedent. So, when Shemar has never asked for anything more or less protective than any of his teammates, it’s a simple fix. It’s just say, ‘Hey, this is the precedent. Let’s keep the precedent.’
“It’s essentially that when a player signs his contract and it’s guaranteed, it should be completely, fully guaranteed. Obviously, if there’s certain circumstances that happen, the team should be able to void. However, again, if you want to make changes to your precedent, it should be a negotiation. It should be give and take. It shouldn’t just be, ‘Hey, we’re changing this and sign it or go scratch.'”
Stewart is between a rock and a hard place here. He could surely use all the reps to build up his status as an unproven rookie but is choosing to sit on the sidelines while all this is worked out. He can’t go back to college and play for Texas A&M again this fall after passing the return deadline.
Things could always come together in time for training camp. The team signed Mims to his deal on July 22 last year.
“All he wants to do is be a Cincinnati Bengal,” Hiller noted. “This guy was so excited to get drafted by Cincinnati. All he wants to do is be a Bengal. All he wanted to do was be on the field and show the Cincinnati fans the incredible specimen, person, football player that this team was lucky to draft where they drafted. And he’s not been allowed to do that.”
