Cincinnati Bengals: Stewart says ‘all is forgiven’, happy to finally be with team

Director of player personnel Duke Tobin last week explained the Bengals were simply trying to “evolve” their first-round contracts like the rest of the league. Stewart eventually gave in to the new language but said both sides came to a “good compromise.” Cincinnati compromised by paying $500,000 of his signing bonus up front, according to national reports.

“I just needed to get on the field as soon as possible,” Stewart said when asked what led to his decision to finally sign. “I needed to start learning, start getting better. There is a long season ahead. I needed to be ready.”

Stewart missed the first three days of training camp and did not participate in any offseason workouts, after choosing not to sign a practice waiver while unsigned. He immediately jumped into practice Sunday, after the Bengals had a day off Saturday, and was involved in full team drills, including some with the first-team defense.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor estimated Stewart took about 10 reps in 11-on-11s.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re repping with,” Taylor said. “It’s just getting him out there and getting him practicing.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

“It’s great just to get him in individual (drills) and the fundamental stuff,” Taylor added. “…We’ll watch the tape and keep building from there. But again, it’s just good to get out here Day 1 and get him back acclimated with the team.”

Stewart said it felt “great” finally getting on the field. He also was relieved not to have to think about anything besides football now, and putting pen to paper gave him “a deep sense of joy.”

Despite the back-and-forth during negotiations, Stewart said there’s no bad blood between him and the organization. Frustration had clearly set in at the end of the offseason workout program when he spoke to media June 10 and said it seemed the Bengals were more interested in winning arguments than winning games.

Stewart walked back from that stance a bit Sunday.

“It was never me versus anybody,” Stewart said. “We just weren’t seeing eye to eye at a point. At the end of the day, I’m happy to be a Bengal. I’m happy that I got drafted here. We have a long relationship ahead of us. There’s no bad blood. It’s just how things go sometimes.”

Stewart said he heard the outside noise throughout the process, but he tried to ignore it because there will always “be some people talking bad about you.”

Bengals executives last week during the pre-camp media luncheon seemed to turn up the heat when they said they didn’t blame Stewart for drawing out negotiations because, essentially, he was getting bad advice from his agent.

Five days later, Stewart signed, but when asked about those comments Sunday, he said he was satisfied with the work put in by LAA Sports & Entertainment agent Zac Hiller on his behalf.

“I mean, in my opinion, I feel like I want an agent that’s more of a pit bull,” Stewart said. “You feel me? I don’t want an agent that can easily be pushed over. I want someone that’s going to war (for) me, so I don’t have to do any of the hard work behind the scenes. In terms of that, I think Zac is a great agent. He handles business very well, that’s my dawg for life.”

Stewart said “all is forgiven” now that he’s signed and he wants fans to know he is “fully locked in” and “can’t wait to put on” for them this season. He believes he still has plenty of time to get ready for Week 1, despite the lost time with his team during the offseason and first three days of camp.

“I got to go out there, work my tail off, but I’ll be ready,” Stewart said.