How do fans view the Bengals first round pick?
The Cincinnati Bengals took one of the more polarizing players in the NFL draft with Texas A&M EDGE Shemar Stewart. He is easily one of the most athletic players to come out of college football in recent seasons. The issue is pretty obviously just having 4.5 sacks over his career.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Production issue
There is no doubt just having 4.5 sacks over his career isn’t great. There are obvious reasons to not like that, and people were understandably upset about that aspect of things.
The expectation for a first round DE is to become a consistent 7-10 sacks a year guy…can we expect Stewert to do that having just 1.5 a year…in college?
Maybe it comes together for him
— Rocky Boiman (@ROCKYBOIMAN50) April 25, 2025
Lolololol https://t.co/d436e89Xo3
— Vance Meek (@vancemeek) April 25, 2025
The Good: Potential potential potential
Potential can be a dirty word with draft prospects. You look at traits a player has and think who that player COULD be. It is a dangerous game to play sometimes, but here are some reasons to believe in Stewart.
Shemar Stewart (DE #4) has insane movement ability for his size. A powerful player who has every physical trait you could ask for from a defensive end. pic.twitter.com/aUlSmDdNbr
— mike (@bengals_sans) April 25, 2025
The Bengals selected Shemar Stewart!!
I’m more bullish on Stewart than most, he’s a tier 1 player in my book with unique physical gifts https://t.co/CUa5InRRvs
— Draft Guy Jared (@DraftGuyJared) April 25, 2025
Shemar Stewart. Chance to be a superstar. DISRUPTION IS PRODUCTION!!! #WhoDey
— Chris Simms (@CSimmsQB) April 25, 2025
Shemar Stewart was drafted in round 1 pick 17 in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 10.00 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1 out of 2029 DE from 1987 to 2025.https://t.co/CX9z2WcL7t pic.twitter.com/c3UP2fDFZX
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 25, 2025
ya’ll do know usage and a million other factors go into this so-called “college production” right?
Shemar Stewart could drop major “production” on the same line as Trey Hendrickson
— Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) April 25, 2025
The Reality
At the end of the day, these guys are all prospects and it matters how they get coached up. This feels like a major boom or bust pick for a team that really could have used a sure thing, especially for defense. That leads to frustration. That frustration is compounded by a disappointing season the year prior.
This guy could very well pan out and turn out to be a guy people claim as a steal years down the line. We unfortunately do not have a crystal ball to know the answer. This is the first pick of the Al Golden defense, and he will hopefully be playing across from Trey Hendrickson (who currently is in a contract dispute with Cincinnati).
What fans need to see is this guy on the field after training camp. He won’t be a finished product then, but it will give us a better idea of his trajectory as a pro. Realistically most of us who haven’t followed Stewart closely will follow along suit like the tweets in this section that really sum up the situation perfectly.
I’ll talk myself into it.
— Lindsay Patterson (@LndsPatterson) April 25, 2025
Ehhhh pic.twitter.com/hAXxE2Leyv
— Anthony Cosenza (@CJAnthonyCUI) April 25, 2025
Seems that the front office friendly faction of the fan base is already bending over backwards justifying the pick.
— joshkirkendall.bsky.social (@Josh_Kirkendall) April 25, 2025
Shemar Stewart KILLED IT during the Draft cycle.
We all know about the amazing Combine, but his Senior Bowl performance was even more important to me… DOMINANT. pic.twitter.com/nwwRzxGbIK
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) April 25, 2025
The sunny side take is: A bet on traits! If he can put it together, it could be dynamite. Big, athletic, bull in a china shop.
— Jake Liscow (@JakeLiscow) April 25, 2025
Just when you thought this offseason couldn’t put any more pressure on Al Golden to turn last year’s defense into something different, they drop a traits player lacking production into his lap at edge in R1.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) April 25, 2025
If you need examples of guys who didn’t rack up many sacks in college but are doing just that in the NFL, @grosenstein has just that in this profile of Shemar Stewart: https://t.co/mk833fDuQI
— Matt Edwards (@MattEdwards) April 25, 2025
