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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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The Cincinnati Bengals worked hard this offseason to revamp their defense.
They traded for All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence in April before signing Super Bowl champion pass rusher Boye Mafe, Pro Bowl tackle Jonathan Allen, and two-time Super Bowl champion safety Bryan Cook in free agency, and using their second-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Texas A&M's All-American edge rusher Cashius Howell.
As long as the Bengals have Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins, this is one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. But the defense hasn't been able to keep them in games, and fixing it was clearly a priority this offseason.
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Now, one of the most exciting young talents has gone down with an injury on the first day of training camp. Bengals first-round pick from 2025 Shemar Stewart was seen carted off the field during practice on Wednesday. He was reportedly unable to put any weight on his left leg when leaving the field, before medical staff called for a cart to take him off.
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Cincinnati selected Stewart 17th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft after three years at Texas A&M, where he racked up 65 combined tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four pass deflections, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble across 37 games. He was widely considered the second-best edge rusher in the entire class, behind Penn State's Abdul Carter.
Stewart's rookie season with the Bengals was disappointing, though. He appeared in just eight games, tallying 11 total tackles, four quarterback hits, two tackles for loss, and one sack. He went down with a knee injury in Week 9, which landed him on injured reserve for over a month, and now he appears to be dealing with another knee injury early in camp.
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What makes this situation more interesting is that Stewart was a contract holdout last summer, fighting against clauses that would have allowed Bengals ownership to void guaranteed money for injuries or off-field conduct.
He proceeded to miss over half of his rookie season — and now, once again, has suffered an injury on the very first day of practice.
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