Is Shemar holding out?

[*ochocincos*]

(06-20-2025, 05:44 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: I am just happy that we have an NFL football team...and a MLB baseball team..The deficiences in the way the Bengals were run for so many years stood out and criticism of Mike Brown was indeed warranted..But things have changed dramatically the past few years..for the better....and...I think that if the team stays healthy..its gonna be a good year

I think they can if certain things happen aside from health.
We're depending on a lot of young guys to take the next step to backfill veterans who have departed in past couple years.
Guys like Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson, Myles Murphy, Dax Hill, DJ Turner.
And hope some of the rookies come along quickly, mainly Stewart, Knight, and Fairchild.
And last, hope the defense takes to Golden's scheme quickly so that it's not like last year where team is scoring 25+ points and still lose like they did 6 times last year.
The offense should do well, it's all the changes on defense I am nervous about.

[Soonerpeace]

(9 hours ago)ochocincos Wrote: I think they can if certain things happen aside from health.
We're depending on a lot of young guys to take the next step to backfill veterans who have departed in past couple years.
Guys like Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson, Myles Murphy, Dax Hill, DJ Turner.
And hope some of the rookies come along quickly, mainly Stewart, Knight, and Fairchild.
And last, hope the defense takes to Golden's scheme quickly so that it's not like last year where team is scoring 25+ points and still lose like they did 6 times last year.
The offense should do well, it's all the changes on defense I am nervous about.

Exactly my thoughts. Exactly. Several things have me excited. The WR. I think Joe has finally gained some confidence in Gesicki & Isovias. Joe has his guys large contracts. A second year with Gesicki looms large. Isovias’ ascension looms large. Chase Brown can really be fast. I think Fairchild & Patrick are an improvement in pass protection. Mims won’t be a rookie. The offense could be the most dynamic in the league.

[*bengalfan74*]

(8 hours ago)Soonerpeace Wrote: Exactly my thoughts. Exactly. Several things have me excited. The WR. I think Joe has finally gained some confidence in Gesicki & Isovias. Joe has his guys large contracts. A second year with Gesicki looms large. Isovias’ ascension looms large. Chase Brown can really be fast. I think Fairchild & Patrick are an improvement in pass protection. Mims won’t be a rookie. The offense could be the most dynamic in the league.

yup

Like most of us it's the defense that gives me great concern!! With just a couple of exceptions they're relying on a lot of yet unproven guys and rookies to be major players on D. Not exactly a formula for success.

Lets hope they get the Trey and Stewart deals done ASAP.

[ERIC1]

(9 hours ago)ochocincos Wrote: I think they can if certain things happen aside from health.
We're depending on a lot of young guys to take the next step to backfill veterans who have departed in past couple years.
Guys like Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson, Myles Murphy, Dax Hill, DJ Turner.
And hope some of the rookies come along quickly, mainly Stewart, Knight, and Fairchild.
And last, hope the defense takes to Golden's scheme quickly so that it's not like last year where team is scoring 25+ points and still lose like they did 6 times last year.
The offense should do well, it's all the changes on defense I am nervous about.

As time progresses most teams depend upon their " young players" to progress...for the most part...those young players on defense looked much better the 2nd half of last season

[ERIC1]

(7 hours ago)bengalfan74 Wrote: yup

Like most of us it's the defense that gives me great concern!! With just a couple of exceptions they're relying on a lot of yet unproven guys and rookies to be major players on D. Not exactly a formula for success.

Lets hope they get the Trey and Stewart deals done ASAP.

I sorta wonder if people were not watching the second half of last season..for the most part...not completely...defense played much better and the players you speak to were playing progressively better each game

[ERIC1]

(06-21-2025, 10:44 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Not in ‘24  we lost like 7 one score games. We should have made the playoffs 

Yes..in 2024...those were the outstanding injuries and we lost those close games most likely because of said injuries

[Soonerpeace]

(6 hours ago)ERIC1 Wrote: Yes..in 2024...those were the outstanding injuries and we lost those close games most likely because of said injuries

NE lost 16-10. That’s not on the defense or Tee not playing. 10 points?
KC lost 26-25 no criticism here
Wash lost 38-33 . That was on the defense
Balt lost 41-38 in OT it was on the defense
Lost to Philly 37-17 . They were SB Champs
Lost to Baltimore 35-34 no criticism there except defense
Lost 34-27 to Chargers again the defense.
Lost 44-38 to Pitt again that’s on the defense.
The bottom line is we lost too many of those close games. At some point you can’t make excuses.

[*bengalfan74*]

(6 hours ago)ERIC1 Wrote: I sorta wonder if people were not watching the second half of last season..for the most part...not completely...defense played much better and the players you speak to were playing progressively better each game

I sorta wonder if people were not paying attention to who we were playing those last 5 games when our D finally started getting some stops?

Cowboys - 7-10 playing with backup QB's as starters

Titans  3-14 just awful team

Browns  3-14 same as above

Broncos  10 -7 but a rookie QB and they nearly beat us

Steelers  10 - 7  with a broken R. Wilson whos season was over 5 games ago

Or in other words the teams we were playing and circumstances involved were very favorable to us. So I'm not filled with confidence they can keep that level of play up against better teams this coming season. I hope they do.........but......

[*ochocincos*]

(6 hours ago)bengalfan74 Wrote: I sorta wonder if people were not paying attention to who we were playing those last 5 games when our D finally started getting some stops?

Cowboys - 7-10 playing with backup QB's as starters

Titans  3-14 just awful team

Browns  3-14 same as above

Broncos  10 -7 but a rookie QB and they nearly beat us

Steelers  10 - 7  with a broken R. Wilson whos season was over 5 games ago

Or in other words the teams we were playing and circumstances involved were very favorable to us. So I'm not filled with confidence they can keep that level of play up against better teams this coming season. I hope they do.........but......

Not only that, the 5-6 games after Thanksgiving are not a large enough sample size to give some (me) strong enough confidence that all the defensive young guys are going to be able to perform like that or better for an entire season.
Maybe it's Volson jading me, but we saw players like him come on toward the end of a season only to regress back the following season, rinse and repeat.
We need the defense to be mostly consistent from Game 1 to Game 17.
Coming on toward the end of the year typically results in middle-of-the-pack seeding.
I want division-leading, possibly even conference-leading performance out of the Bengals.
I know the offense is capable, but there are too many unknowns on the defense to give me confidence yet.

[NUGDUKWE]

Zac Hiller, the agent for Shemar Stewart, was on SiriusXM today with Solomon Wilcots and Christian Fauria.

Hiller: “Obviously my job, and all agents’ job, is to protect the players. Simply put, Shemar would, of course, love for his contract to be as protective as the rest of…

— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) June 23, 2025

This is what is have originally heard as the hold up. Which in my opinion makes the Bengals look bad. Seems fair enough that if they want to change precedent then they should be willing to bend in other parts of the contract. I heard just the timing of signing bonus payout. So shouldve been an easy deal from the beginning.

[*bfine32*]

(6 hours ago)bengalfan74 Wrote: I sorta wonder if people were not paying attention to who we were playing those last 5 games when our D finally started getting some stops?

Cowboys - 7-10 playing with backup QB's as starters

Titans  3-14 just awful team

Browns  3-14 same as above

Broncos  10 -7 but a rookie QB and they nearly beat us

Steelers  10 - 7  with a broken R. Wilson whos season was over 5 games ago

Or in other words the teams we were playing and circumstances involved were very favorable to us. So I'm not filled with confidence they can keep that level of play up against better teams this coming season. I hope they do.........but......

I'll perhaps look at the rest later, but just to add some context to your context.

The week before we played Dallas, they beat a playoff Team (WAS) by putting up 34 points

The week after we beat Dallas, they beat a playoff Team (TBB) 26-24

In between those 2, we held them to 20 points and beat them 27-20.

So it's easy to dismiss them as playing backups until you look a little closer. 

[ERIC1]

(6 hours ago)bengalfan74 Wrote: I sorta wonder if people were not paying attention to who we were playing those last 5 games when our D finally started getting some stops?

Cowboys - 7-10 playing with backup QB's as starters

Titans  3-14 just awful team

Browns  3-14 same as above

Broncos  10 -7 but a rookie QB and they nearly beat us

Steelers  10 - 7  with a broken R. Wilson whos season was over 5 games ago

Or in other words the teams we were playing and circumstances involved were very favorable to us. So I'm not filled with confidence they can keep that level of play up against better teams this coming season. I hope they do.........but......

If the team stays healthy..it will be a good year