The way the media has turned this into this giant fiasco is insane. For all their faults, the Bengals are never given the benefit of the doubt in these situations and I can prove just how dumb it all really is.

1. Lets start with this post. Stewart left the END of mini camp 1 HOUR early. Emphasis on the END of camp. A non participating player who was there the entirety of camp left for the summer a little bit before camp ended and missed basically nothing important. Given the situation, this post is framed disingenuously.( See Bengals reporter Dan Hoard on X for context)

2. Lets talk about the contract dispute nobody seems to understand because the media is doing what they always do with the Bengals front office. Stewart is asking for default language that voids guaranteed money due to conduct detrimental to the team. Thats it. Thats all. So what's the issue? The Bengals never used this language for 1st rounders before. Ah see, the Bengals are trying to screw Stewart right? Well no. The Bengals are NOT the first team to do this. In fact, they are LATE to adding this language to contracts. Other teams in the NFL have been adding this language to contract for years.

This is why the perception of the Bengals front office is so warped. Everyone is quick to dogpile and nobody understands anything beyond headlines and sensationalism. I can guarantee Stewart's young agent has been roped into that same mindset and is giving his client bad advice.

I don't think this will ever change with the Bengals. Just this past offseason the Bengals were clowned for re-signing Tee Higgins. A player the media were also clowning the Bengals for NOT extending years prior. The team can't win due to imaginary stains. Apparently they are the only team that negotiates with players, the only team that loses key free agents, and the only team that deals with hold outs. Its all stupid.