7 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I think those are very key numbers.

Here are some more stats from two other edge rushers from the AFC North who have got paid more than the Bengals are offering Henderickson.

TJ Watt 6 sacks vs. AFC North teams in 6 games. He had 2 sacks vs. Ravens. He had 4 sacks vs. Bengals in two games. He had 0 sacks vs. Browns in 2 games.

Miles Garrett had only 5 sacks vs. AFC North teams in 6 games. He had 3 sacks vs. the Steelers in two games. He had 2 sacks vs. the Bengals in two games. He had 0 sacks vs. the Ravens in two games.

2 hours ago, Jack of all Trades said:

Mixon - no loss. Chase Brown

Whitworth - mistake

Steinbeck - don’t recall that guy

Bates - one good year after

Boyd - at end of rope

Big DT?  - he was injured

Here is what I would like someone to research.  List Hendrickson sacks last year.  How many against AFC North teams.

Steinbeck was a guard 2nd or 1st rounded he signed with the Browns after his rookie conteact.

The Bengals caved and signed Stewart to a guaranteed contract. 

On 7/23/2025 at 7:56 PM, MaddenCurse44 said:

Mike Brown said they where not cheap. Let's  not forget they didn't want to pay the following players. Mixon, Whitworth, Steinbeck, Bates, Boyd, the big DT that went to Detroit. I am sure there are plenty more.

Let’s see out of that list. Mixon got multiple contracts with the Bengals, including being paid as one of the highest RBs. 
 

Whitworth I believe signed 3 contracts with the Bengals. Before they thought age was going to catch up to Whitworth at age 34, and they ultimately got it wrong. However, 9 times out of 10 they would have got it right. As what Whitworth did at his age was very rare.
 

 Steinbeck they did let walk. 
 

Boyd signed multiple contracts, before letting him go. Looks like they made right call on that one. 
 

Bates was a mistake letting go. With that said they probably don’t have Higgins right now if they had signed Bates. 
 

Reader the big DT the bengals made him the highest paid NT in the NFL when they signed him as a free agent. 
 

Bengals through the years also have signed Palmer to richest QB deal at the time. Burrow to richest QB deal at the time. Chad Johnson multiple contracts. AJ Green Multiple contracts. Geno Atkins and Dunlap signed 3 contracts with the Bengals. Chase and Higgins now on multiple contracts. Willie Anderson multiple contracts, Corey Dillon, Logan Wilson. Contrary to popular belief the Bengals do pay money to keep their own, and keep many of their stars to multiple contracts. The issue is when they aren’t able to keep someone, people get very loud about it.  
 

The Bengals I admit though at times definitely do themselves no favors, by getting into long public fueds over contracts. When they should like in Hendrickson case should have just traded him before the draft. However, even in his case the blame falls on Hendrickson and his agent for being idiots and agreeing to a one year extension two years ago for this price. Or else he would have been a free agent this off season. 

3 hours ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

The Bengals caved and signed Stewart to a guaranteed contract. 

The Bengals didn’t cave at all. All first round contracts are automatically guaranteed contracts. Literally had nothing to do with Bengals trying to get around the 1st round guaranteed contracts.The dispute was over the Bengals trying to put into the contract the same language that basically EVERY NFL team has in their contracts for first round picks, which would allow a team to void years if a player gets in serious trouble. The Bengals for some reason in the past did not have that in their contracts like other teams, and were attempting to start that this year. Stewart didn’t want to be the first Bengals to do it, even though he would have anyways if anyone else drafted him. 
 

Which Stewart gave him and agreed to the contract with that new language. The  only concession the Bengals made was giving him 500k now instead of in December. 

Stewart should fire his agent. There is zero reason he should have ever sat out. The agent had him sitting out, because of the language the Bengals wanted that every other NFL already uses. So  he essentially sat out so he could get 500k five months sooner, because he ended up agreeing to the language anyways. 
 

The agent wasn’t trying to do what was best for Stewart. He was trying to do what is best for himself, because he knows the national media loves controversy with the Bengals. Trying to make himself look like he was digging in for his client. When in reality he only was hurting him, when he needed all the reps he could get. All so he could eventually still give in anyways, and get 500k a few months sooner. Just a horrible advice by his agent this whole time. 
 

 

4 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Stewart should fire his agent.

Agree.

3 hours ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

The Bengals caved and signed Stewart to a guaranteed contract. 

What are you talking about? All 1st round picks receive guaranteed contracts that had nothing to do with his holding out.

10 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

What are you talking about? All 1st round picks receive guaranteed contracts that had nothing to do with his holding out.

Thought so too, but Bengals seem to not pay “signing bonus” money upon signing.  What a misnomer!  Staggered payout dates and “good citizen conduct clause” to collect on those guarantees(?) seemed to be the sticky points.  Rumor is Bengals upped the front money by $500K and Shemar agreed to language.

On 7/26/2025 at 9:15 AM, Oldercoach said:

Thought so too, but Bengals seem to not pay “signing bonus” money upon signing.  What a misnomer!  Staggered payout dates and “good citizen conduct clause” to collect on those guarantees(?) seemed to be the sticky points.  Rumor is Bengals upped the front money by $500K and Shemar agreed to language.

The same good citizen clause that basically every NFL team has in their contracts. The Bengals for some reason didn’t have it in their contracts in the past, and were trying to do the same language now as basically every other team. 
 

Which makes this hold out so stupid by Stewart and his agent. If any other team drafted him, he would have had to have this same language the Bengals were pushing. The agent only hurt his player by advising him to hold out. Once fans and media started realizing how stupid the holdout was, and calling out the agent. They finally gave into the contract language every team uses. So essentially they held out, so he could get 500k five months earlier. Just an absolute dumb holdout by Stewart and his agent, and his agent needs fired. 

10 minutes ago, theguru said:

Granted we don’t know all aspects, but for a 1st round pick (maybe over pick) the optics of Hiller’s advice just appears wanting.  Shemar’s college performance indicates this time could have been critical in polishing some critical shortcomings.

Just now, Oldercoach said:

Granted we don’t know all aspects, but for a 1st round pick (maybe over pick) the optics of Hiller’s advice just appears wanting.  Shemar’s college performance indicates this time could have been critical in polishing some critical shortcomings.

I expected Shemar to defend himself since he held out.  Now I expect Shemar to focus 100% on helping the Bengals win a Super Bowl and nothing else.