(06-11-2025, 12:50 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: I excuse what is going on with stewart because when all is said and done its meaningless..life goes on...stewart will make his millions..he will be in summmer training camp and hopefully will help our defense..If you want to dwell on what you consider to be dysfunction look no further than cleveland and the circus surrounding the quarterback situation..

(06-11-2025, 01:15 PM)sloSTI Wrote: So nobody knows what the language is that he keeps talking about?

(06-11-2025, 01:26 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I don't mind him speaking up because we've seen the Brown family take the difficult path with players and player contracts for decades.

(06-11-2025, 01:30 PM)ochocincos Wrote: They cannot be mandatory for someone not technically under contract.

(06-11-2025, 12:45 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: Stewart will be signed..he will be in summer camp..you clearly dont understand manditory minicamps..players are not even allowed to wear pads..me playing football or you playing football at any level has nothing to do with facts

Quote:Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow met the press standing in socks after Tuesday's first day of mandatory minicamp, and he put his foot down when it came to the good vibes emanating from his 2025 offense.


Why not? The Bengals are on a star trek where they've never been before. Of his five mandatories, this is the first one all four of his top receivers are back and operating at full tilt with him.

"I think we're in a spot that we haven't been before," Burrow said. "Guys coming off a season healthy, getting all of our guys back. It's been weird this offseason not having to really take a new guy that we're counting on under my wing and trying to teach him what I'm looking at, what we want out of each play. That takes a lot of time."

But not this year. There is no new tight end, such as Hayden Hurst or Mike Gesicki. There's no departing starting receiver like Tyler Boyd. There's no franchise tags or hanging extensions.

Gesicki is back after his 65-catch year. So are the league's two highest-paid receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, as well as a blossoming third-year receiver named Andrei Iosivas.

"Signing Mike back was big. Andrei coming back. We have all the guys in the wide receiver room back that we've already had all these discussions," Burrow said. "So now you can take it to the next level and talk a little more in depth about those things and that's just going to continue to make us better."

Jump to a story section:

(06-11-2025, 12:42 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: Actually they do..every single day ..dozens of sports commentators offer personal discourse  and opinion regarding almost every team in the NFL

(06-11-2025, 01:30 PM)ochocincos Wrote: They cannot be mandatory for someone not technically under contract.

(06-11-2025, 02:13 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: hmm... when is the deadline to sign? 

(06-11-2025, 02:17 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Let's just put it out there...
Stewart hadn't been overly productive in college.
He needs work to learn how to finish better.

A pressure is fine, but a hit/sack is preferred.
Same with TFLs.

Stewart only had 12 TFLs across 37 college games.
Let's compare that to the other DEs on the roster from when they were in college:
Hendrickson - 42 TFLs across 40 games
Ossai - 31 TFLs across 36 games
Murphy - 37 TFLs across 38 games
Sample - 22 TFLs across 46 games
Cedric Johnson - 23 TFLs across 46 games

Stewart just flat out needs as much coaching as possible to get him to become effective in the NFL.
As long as he continues to hold out, the longer it's delaying that.

Obviously the thing I care about most is Bengals winning and getting back deep into the postseason, but I also want to see Stewart put up some stats to justify his draft selection.
I'm not being overly harsh when I ask for 4+ sacks, 5+ TFLs.
Jared Verse, taken 19th overall last year, had 4.5 sacks and 11 TFLs last year.
Laiatu Latu, taken 15th overall last year, had 4.0 sacks and 5 TFLs.
Chop Robinson, taken 21st overall last year, had 6.0 sacks and 8 TFLs.

Bengals, with all the money they are pouring into Burrow, Chase, and Higgins (and maybe Hendrickson?), need their early-round picks (especially 1st rounders) to contribute more immediately so they don't fall back into middle-of-the-pack and stay there now that they can't go all out for defense in FA like they did when Burrow, Chase, and Higgins were on rookie deals.

This isn't all on Stewart either. Yes, he should want to be out there so he can better hit the ground running come Week 1, but Bengals invested a premium draft pick into him vs addressing another area of value, so it's in their interest too to get as much out of him this year as they can.

(06-11-2025, 02:19 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: I might be wrong, but I think it's like Week 9 of the season.  It used to be the same date as when you had to sign your tag and report without losing a year of service.

If it goes that long and the deadline passes he will go back into the draft next year.  I can only remember 1 time it happened off the top of my head:

1990 Craig Erickson drafted by the Eagles and then went back into the draft and was drafted by the Bucs.

(06-11-2025, 02:33 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: We’ve been awful at first rounders contributing early on defense.

(06-11-2025, 01:41 PM)jj22 Wrote: Thanks for bringing up Jamar and Tee....

Eric you see how their lack of spring effected the start of the season..... 

(06-11-2025, 02:17 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Let's just put it out there...
Stewart hadn't been overly productive in college.
He needs work to learn how to finish better.

A pressure is fine, but a hit/sack is preferred.
Same with TFLs.

Stewart only had 12 TFLs across 37 college games.
Let's compare that to the other DEs on the roster from when they were in college:
Hendrickson - 42 TFLs across 40 games
Ossai - 31 TFLs across 36 games
Murphy - 37 TFLs across 38 games
Sample - 22 TFLs across 46 games
Cedric Johnson - 23 TFLs across 46 games

Stewart just flat out needs as much coaching as possible to get him to become effective in the NFL.
As long as he continues to hold out, the longer it's delaying that.

Obviously the thing I care about most is Bengals winning and getting back deep into the postseason, but I also want to see Stewart put up some stats to justify his draft selection.
I'm not being overly harsh when I ask for 4+ sacks, 5+ TFLs.
Jared Verse, taken 19th overall last year, had 4.5 sacks and 11 TFLs last year.
Laiatu Latu, taken 15th overall last year, had 4.0 sacks and 5 TFLs.
Chop Robinson, taken 21st overall last year, had 6.0 sacks and 8 TFLs.

Bengals, with all the money they are pouring into Burrow, Chase, and Higgins (and maybe Hendrickson?), need their early-round picks (especially 1st rounders) to contribute more immediately so they don't fall back into middle-of-the-pack and stay there now that they can't go all out for defense in FA like they did when Burrow, Chase, and Higgins were on rookie deals.

This isn't all on Stewart either. Yes, he should want to be out there so he can better hit the ground running come Week 1, but Bengals invested a premium draft pick into him vs addressing another area of value, so it's in their interest too to get as much out of him this year as they can.

(06-11-2025, 03:02 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: Nolen just signed..pick number 16...stewart will sign shortly..he will get plenty of work in the summer..all is good...i promise

(06-11-2025, 04:34 PM)ochocincos Wrote: He can still get all the work, but if he ends up not producing, Imma still be irritated lol
(Nature of me not liking the pick)

(06-11-2025, 02:43 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Part of that is Marvin+Taylor drafting guys a year early and giving them a year to ride the bench, but that's on them/the organization for going that approach.

Teams only need to look back at the Chiefs in 2022 to see how impactful immediate rookie contributions can be, as evidenced by Karlaftis, McDuffie, Pacheco, and Chenal's contributions that year on their way to win the Super Bowl.
2022 was the first big year of Mahomes's salary kicking in, having a $35.8 mill cap hit at the time, up from just $7.4 mill the year prior.
That was also the year the Chiefs traded Hill to the Dolphins for a boat load of draft picks, which helped them balance the salary cap and try to get a new set of young guys to come in.

Bengals need to find a way to get their young defensive guys to contribute earlier and more often than they have been historically.

(06-11-2025, 04:42 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I think a lot of people are going to be surprised that didn't like the Shemar pick. Sure, he might not get tons of sacks as a rookie but I guarantee
he will be an upgrade over what we saw from Sam the last couple of years. The athleticism and ability should just be night and day.

(06-11-2025, 04:47 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: That was mostly Lou not Zac. Zac didn’t infringe on Lou until last year much. He was not happy early on. The Bengals are unique in that the coaching staff has a lot of impact in the draft. If you look Hobby, Pollack, and Bettcher. Bettcher and Lou were tight and Golden was going to run that. Pollack? Hobby? We’ve not recruited there well or even hit much in the portal. But Duke said we’ve got to have rookies play now around the draft. Had to be an issue with Lou slow playing some.

(06-11-2025, 01:49 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: To compare that to what they say about the Bengals is assinine. 

(06-11-2025, 04:42 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I think a lot of people are going to be surprised that didn't like the Shemar pick. Sure, he might not get tons of sacks as a rookie but I guarantee
he will be an upgrade over what we saw from Sam the last couple of years. The athleticism and ability should just be night and day.