The Cincinnati Bengals and Shemar Stewart still aren’t seeing eye-to-eye.
Now, it looks like the first-round selection from the 2025 NFL Draft could make an unprecedented decision.
According to Warren Sharp, Stewart could look to return to college and re-enter the draft next year.
wait… so Bengals 1st round pick Shemar Stewart left the team & went back to school to practice with Texas A&M?
and he might not play this year in the NFL, return to college instead and then enter the 2026 NFL draft??? pic.twitter.com/WUdN6vDHzx
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 15, 2025
Stewart reportedly returned to Texas A&M and has been fully involved in workouts, although he’s not practicing with the team.
A return to college after being drafted would be against NCAA regulations, and even if that were allowed, the Bengals would still hold his draft rights.
Stewart hasn’t signed a contract, so he’s technically not employed by the Bengals or the NFL.
The dispute was sparked by new language the Bengals want to include in their first-round contracts, which could void future guarantees.
Stewart refused to sign such a contract and has not taken the field for any of the team’s offseason workouts.
He reportedly doesn’t want anything special, just to get the same type of contract the Bengals have given their previous first-rounders.
Of course, the Bengals hold the right to insert any clause they see fit, and given their well-documented history of not doing right by their players and getting on their bad side, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them choose to waste a first-round pick rather than cave into his demands.
This would be an unprecedented situation that would most likely require complicated legal action, but there’s a first time for everything.
