“Whatever the Bengals are doing with a first-round draft pick in an era where the rookie wage scale exists is unprofessional. Cincinnati and Shemar Stewart are at odds over interpretation of language in the contract that could affect Stewart's guaranteed money in his rookie deal, causing the first-round pick to hold out from minicamp.”

Shemar Stewart's holdout from the Cincinnati Bengals due to some of the language they want to include in his rookie contract is reportedly a fairly common practice used by other teams.

The penny-pinching Cincinnati Bengals have drawn a line in the sand with first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart. Doug Farrar analyzes why it's a potentially disastrous move.