‘We’re not paying someone to sit in jail’: Bengals owner gives blunt reason for team’s Shemar Stewart stance

CINCINNATI — In less than three weeks, Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown will be turning 90 years old, but don’t let his age fool you. Brown still has his hands firmly on the pulse of the organization. Although he rarely speaks to media, he always does at least one interview every year, and that came Monday during the team’s local media day. 

Brown clearly knew he was going to get asked about the team’s bitter contract dispute with first-round pick Shemar Stewart and when that question came, the Bengals owner was ready: He explained why the team is pushing so hard to change the language in Stewart’s rookie contract. With rookie deals now slotted, both sides know that Stewart will be signing a four-year, $18,969,276 deal once it gets done, so this isn’t about money. It’s all about the language in the contract. 

Stewart wants his fully guaranteed contract to be fully guaranteed, which means as soon as he signed, he’ll be entitled to the full $18.97 million over the course of his four-year contract. On the other hand, the Bengals want the ability to void some of those guarantees if Stewart should violate any NFL policies that might require a suspension or if he breaks the law. As Brown succinctly put it, he doesn’t want to be paying someone who’s sitting in jail. 

“His agent wants it to be so that if he acted in a terrible fashion — this is all hypothetical — something that rises to the level of going to prison, that we would be on the line for the guarantees for the future years that haven’t been paid,” Brown said. “And our position is no, if that happens, we’re not going to be. We’re not going to be paying someone who’s sitting in jail. That’s not what we’re going to do.”

Unless it’s Jerry Jones, it’s not often you hear an owner speak so bluntly, but that’s exactly what Brown did. Stewart and his agent, Zac Hiller, probably won’t be thrilled to hear those words come out of Brown’s mouth. The Bengals owner was essentially saying that his team won’t be budging when it comes to the contract language they’re proposing, which means Stewart’s side is going to have budge if he wants to get a deal done or this standoff could go on for weeks. 

So what’s going to happen? We predicted when Stewart’s standoff with the Bengals might end, and you can check that out here. You can also read more about Brown’s comments here.