Joe Burrow's offseason presser takeaways: Preseason playing time, Shemar Stewart still not practicing, and support for Trey Hendrickson
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As Shamar Stewart continues to miss practices early in his rookie season, Joe Burrow weighs in with some advice for the Bengals first round pick. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Lisco, he's James Rapine, and we've been Lockdown Bengals for, what is it, nine years? Since 2016? We've been doing Lockdown Bengals here, bringing you the latest and greatest daily Cincinnati Bengals coverage on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcasts. Everydayers already know it. If you're not an everydayer yet,

You can become one. Just hit that subscribe button on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts and you won't miss an episode of Lockdown Bengals, especially if you make it your first listen and make that good listening habit part of your routine. Shout out to all of you who have already taken that step and make Lockdown Bengals your first listen. Today, we dive back into the Shamar Stewart topic as Joe Burrow and Justin Media for Lockdown

the first time in quite a while and probably the only time we'll hear from him before training camp. We might get another media appearance here or there, but as an official capacity through the Bengals, that we'll hear from Joe in the immediate future. So Burrow also talked about Trey Hendrickson. We've got a topic,

On playing time in the preseason and a quest to start faster, start seasons without digging themselves a hole that Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow talked about on Tuesday. But James, we start with Shamar Stewart among players.

Reports on Tuesday that the agent or Shamar Stewart's camp are unhappy with certain bits of language at this point. No longer talking about roster bonus percentages. And we talked about that last week and the bits of money and the timing for that money. And now this week, the discussion is around language for Shamar Stewart's contract, keeping him off the field, though he is physically present in Cincinnati.

uh a bunch of things here first off uh joe i know you're watching or listening to this open invite to come on locked on bangles i know you want to i know you've been thinking about it met gala paris backless suit locked on bengals appearance it's really the next thing to check off on your box yeah the trifecta so please uh just reach out and we'll uh or have your reps reach out of course and we will make that happen

Same invite for Shamar Stewart, by the way, if you want to. I think that one might be a bit easier to get scheduled, especially because you're right. He's been at practice, hasn't participated in practice. Kelsey Conway of the Enquirer has been all over this. There's a lot here, and there's a lot here because we don't have all of the details. And I'm not sure we're ever going to get all of the details. Zach Taylor clearly not wanting to get any of the details there. I want to start with this just because it's...

And maybe I'm just talking to the really vocal minority, but there are some that are questioning Shamar Stewart's attitude and work ethic and all of those things. So how about we start with Joe Burrow himself on Shamar Stewart, on the advice that he would give to Shamar? And I think...

This 30-second clip gives you an idea of what Shamar Stewart brings in the meeting room and certainly into the locker room. Here's Joe Burrow on the Bengals' first-round pick. Just work hard, develop a routine, find the people that are going to help facilitate your success, have the right people around you, go out and make plays, play really hard, understand your job. Everything that I've seen from him in our short time together so far has been very positive. He's always...

Got some energy in his face, comes in ready to work. So, you know, obviously we'll see what happens in the season, but I got a lot of faith in him.

Most important thing, how about that hair? For those of you not watching on YouTube, Joe Burrow's got some hair and a headband going on right now. You've probably seen pictures. But Joe talking about the attitude for Shamar Stewart, also with, I think, some solid advice that's relevant to Shamar's situation. If you really dig into it, if you assume that he's not just being like, this is a generic thing that I would tell rookies at this point.

As in surround yourself with people who are going to put you in the best position to succeed, make sure that you're not getting bad advice, make sure that you're doing the things that are going to set you up best for NFL success. And that's obviously pertinent to all rookies, certainly pertinent to Shamar Stewart, who needs to find that development and needs to get on the field in order to do that. So yeah.

I think obviously it's in everybody's interest for Shamar Stewart to get on the field as soon as possible. But what was your takeaway from the borough comments before we talk about the potential language disputes that are currently out there and the information we have there? I think that, and the reason why I wanted to put that out there first is we can say whatever we want about Shamar and what we know and all of those things. But I think when Joe

says that it matters and i do think shamar wants to get on the field and i do think he's listening to his agent here and so there's two different things like there's people that are gonna be like i can't believe this rookie is already doing this we we had our doubts as a fan base when it comes to to his lack of production and all those things anyway and then he does this i i don't really view it that way and i don't think joe views it that way and at the same time and this is

where it gets into it. I want to see him on the field because I think he needs these reps. And you know how I mentioned the other day, I talked to a veteran that said, yeah, Shamar Stewart really needs reps. Let's just say I might've talked to another little birdie that thinks that Shamar Stewart needs the reps. And it's a different one and an important one in someone that's going to matter if the Bengals are good this year. And so the person I talked to, by the way, and so however they need to get there, let's get there.

And so with that, let's dive into this contractual stuff and language because it sucks to not be able to see what 97 can do. Although I will say this, I'll throw this out there. Jerry Montgomery said, hey, Shamar, you're out here, so come over here. When they were doing pass rush drills with Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai and Cam Sample and Cedric Johnson kind of leading the way and working on stunts, and I posted some video of this, Shamar Stewart,

Lining up at running back. So secret weapon. Shamar, the running back, Jake, what do you think? Yep. That's probably the whole plan here. That's the dispute is that there's language in the contract about playing time at running back and potential incentives tied to rushing touchdowns for now. I mean, he's out there to stand in a single place and be a positional stand in the running

Like I said, I think the likely thing at this point is given that they're no longer talking about roster bonus percentages, maybe they figured that out. And now they're talking about language that the Bengals have done for the last couple of first round picks. And hat tip to at Texans cap on Twitter, who went back and looked at Miles Murphy's contract and looked at Amarius men's contract and looked for the language that might be

in question here. And just to give you an idea of what could still be discussed is there could still be a discussion around the signing bonus in year one, which is a huge portion of the rookie contract. Maybe they're trying to figure out if it's going to be paid at a training camp, if it's going to be paid

a little bit later in the calendar year, is it going to be paid in December and in March or is it going to or in and in July or August or is it going to be paid in August and then 15 days later? So it's like the timing of money that Shemar Stewart will get, but Shemar Stewart wants the money as soon as possible. Totally reasonable thing for Shemar Stewart to want.

But we're talking about timing, again, over the course of a couple of months. It could be something to do with defaults on guarantees. So you could void your guarantees if you're suspended for conduct detrimental or certain reasons. Then teams write in, well, this contract guarantees that these can void in these situations. And so Texans, Caf, went back and looked, and Miles Murphy has different rules.

guarantee void language than Amarius Mims does. And so maybe he wants Mims language or maybe he wants Miles Murphy language, but it's not clear which of those he wants or where the disagreement is. And

So those are a couple things that stood out when I was looking at language differences, timing of signing bonus, and the potential suspension-related reasons that could lead to guarantees being forfeited by the player. And these are generally pretty egregious requirements to void guarantees in a rookie contract. But those things stand out.

The other thing that stands out to me is we don't know what exactly the language issue is. We know that there was a language issue over the participation injury coverage that leads to Shemar Stewart being the only rookie, as far as we know, in the NFL not participating. What I don't know about it is, are the Bengals actually being weird here?

Probably. It's safe to assume that at this point, right? Given their recent record for negotiations. Or is this an agent who is taking particular issue with the team that maybe he hasn't worked with a ton before? And I don't think he has. Just get him on the field. I don't care if he... It's literally where I'm at right now. If he needs his contract protected, then protect his contract to get him on the field because it does matter. And I even asked Zach and it's like, oh, well, yeah, it's good to...

he's getting mental reps, but it would be good to physically have him out there. And when Zach saying it that way in a public setting, of course you need them out there. And so the Bengals track record is what it is. The reputation is what it is. I, I look at them when weird things happen and maybe we're way off. It doesn't feel like we're way off. It feels like that they need to figure this out to get them on the field. I, you probably have another thought or two on Shamar Stewart.

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I don't have many other thoughts on Shamar Stewart as you as you insinuated get him on the field figure it out like this doesn't need to be something that is taking weeks if we're talking about what the different guarantee void issues are like just work it out guys we don't need to make everything pulling teeth you have the only rookie like I said I'm pretty sure and maybe someone will let us know about another rookie who's holding out for contract related reasons

But I'm pretty sure you're the only rookie in the NFL who's not practicing. Not the only rookie who's not signed. That's fine. But Jamar Stewart isn't going on the field because you have the injury protection issues. So, like, whatever you got to do, I'm kind of with you. Like, the Bengals have run out of rope for me on these weird contractual issues that happen from time to time. Things taking longer than they need to take. Things being more – I mean, how many times am I going to say pulling teeth on this show this week –

more annoying and painful than they need to be. You think you need to go to the dentist? Maybe I do. Maybe you do. Maybe you do. I insert local dentist that should sponsor locked on Bengals here. All right, let's, let's get to what Joe Burrow had to say about, well, another defensive end. I mean, Trey Hendrickson. Let's, let's talk about that coming up. We should talk about preseason now, right? Don't you want to talk about preseason or do you want to talk about Trey?

Yeah, we can talk about the preseason. The Bengals seem to be in sync about playing more in the preseason. It's the most definitive we've heard Joe Burrow or Zach Taylor talk about preseason playing time. At this point in the offseason, we're in May. Usually these things come up more in an early training camp and even as a preseason games approach, but...

there is consensus it sounds like in the building that they want to get the players on the field a little bit more in the preseason or maybe a lot more in the preseason i guess we'll see what happens there that's the tbd maybe uh

Maybe that's part of the new scouts. They've hired the analytics addition to the scouting department. And we'll, we'll talk more about that. James, you alluded to that a minute ago to the Bengals did hire a couple of the scouts. They did add another tray in the analytics area that we'll get into more in the future. But if you'd missed that news, Bengals did hire some scouts, but again,

What did you think, James? I know you're generally of the mind that playing in the preseason is a needless risk. What did you think listening to Joe and Zach on that today? Well, I'm glad that they're not doing any joint practices. I think that was the other element here that was confirmed. Look, they tried it that way last year, and I think on paper the logic sounds good. Joe plays in the first preseason game, starters play in the first preseason game, then you have two joint practices, then you hit the ground running. But I still look at it so logically.

That at least that's how it works in my head. It's like, well, injuries have been why like Joe's health is why the slow starts have been the slow starts. You had the calf and the appendicitis and last year was the wrist. And he played pretty poor. I would say in the new England game and obviously the contract stuff, which is still TBD because you have the tray thing last year, the contract stuff with Jamar certainly bled into the regular season and impacted them. But like,

It was all of these things. There's reasons behind it. So I really don't know how much they need to tweak. I don't. But this is the thing that they haven't done, is play in the preseason and get substantial snaps in the preseason. Now what I will say, and I'm probably going to say it 50,000 times between now and the start of... Well, now until the end of the preseason, you better not get burned here. Better not have...

healthy starters and then you go in and by the way the joint practices got them last year miles murphy got hurt he had a couple of injuries there um you lost chris evans for the season like the camp sample got hurt i i don't know if that was a joint practice or just a regular practice in camp but you had some camp injuries anyway so maybe the bangles are viewing it that way and saying all right well we got to get on the field in the preseason to get off to a better start we can all agree there they have to start better

And so trying something they haven't tried, it makes sense. And I think that thing is as simple as playing in the preseason. Don't be shocked, Jake, if they play Joe in all three preseason games. I think that that's where it's trending. And I think kind of what will happen, maybe not, but I think without any joint practices, I think he ends up suiting up for all three preseason games. The third is something. Yeah.

Because across the NFL, you're not seeing many starters in that third game. More teams around the NFL will play their starters a little bit than the Bengals do, certainly, in the preseason. But going into that third game, it's a bit, maybe it's just a drive in the third game. Yeah, I think it'll be less, but I think going through the routine, because they did it once last year.

And that's also their only home preseason game, right? Their road road home. So getting through the routine on the road and at home could be part of that thinking as well. Could be. And by the way, no one, that's me speculating and kind of reading between the lines. It's not like I know for sure, but it's, I would have like,

six months ago, I would have shot down the idea of playing in all three preseason games. But I do think that's where it's trending. And they, of course, like I said, do have the preseason schedule now at Philly, at Washington, and then at home against Indianapolis Thursday night, a Monday night and a Saturday night. So it'd be interesting to see how rest schedules play into that as well. Like you're playing Joe on Monday night and then on a Saturday on an extra short week.

in that preseason game three. And we'll see what kind of approach they take to it, where on the one hand, yeah, it's getting the routine of game day, getting in and out of the huddle in a live environment with a crowd, with closer to regular season speed than you get in any sort of practice setting, joint or not. And you get some feel for going through playing on a field, again, in a live setting with a crowd, with guys on the other side that are going to hit you, live contact, all those things.

But you're still dressing it up. It's still preseason. You're still not going out there with your full playbook, with everything that you want to do. You're trying to go through some motions. You still have battles, presumably, on the offensive line, especially for the Bengals, where you're going to need to, one, see what those guys can do, but two,

Do you put those guys to the test when Burrows in the game or do you simplify their assignment a little bit while Burrows in the game and let that competition continue? These are the questions that the coaches will have to tackle as they consider how they want to use their players in the preseason with the risk reward of it. Right. And,

there are injuries that can happen at any time, certainly. And you pointed out all the injuries Bengals suffered during camp practices last year. But when Burrow's on the field in games that don't count for anything, that magnifying glass obviously gets a little bit more intense. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. And I think just be healthy. That's instantly, like, I just think about it, Joe talking about it, and it's like, that's...

That's my concern. At the same time, we talked about this yesterday, and I'm even more confident now. Feel free to read between the lines every day, but I'm not sure they add another offensive lineman. I think that these are the dudes. And so if these are the guys where you're confident in three, you're confident in Orlando Brown Jr., Amarius Mims, and then obviously Ted Karras at center, you're going to need to get those other guys real live reps.

And so maybe, maybe they play, maybe you see the starting offensive line play the entire first half with Joe in preseason game. Number one to two. And I say starting because you've got to figure out those starters. And I think Dylan Fairchild and Cody Ford could certainly be penciled in with Lucas Patrick there. And,

Man, I'm not sure that there's a new body walking in that door anytime soon. Yeah, we talked about that a lot on yesterday's show, like you alluded to. So if you're interested in more of our rationale behind why we think it would be a little bit of a surprise, especially at this point for the Bengals to go sign that Brandon Scherf,

That's step into the building and start at right guard player. We did talk about that quite a bit in yesterday's show. We've got a little bit more here from Joe Burrow on Tuesday during his press conference with the media in Cincinnati, a little bit of conversation about Trey Hendrickson and one other topic on Joe Burrow that I want to get your quick take on as well as we wrap up the show coming up next.

Anybody could listen to the Joe Burrow interview, but Dan Hoard in his five observations that he's getting posted as we're doing interviews

Doing our recording here points out that Joe said it was the best he's ever felt in an offseason. You often hear athletes in the months before a season starts across sports, basketball, baseball, football, say this is the best I've ever felt, best shape of my life. And that's the goal. Every year, the goal is to go into a season being the best shape you've been in in your life.

What's your thought there? Is that Joe just like, yeah, it's the best, best shape of my life. And it's just a thing that athletes say, or what were your takes, if any, when you think about Joe talking that way? No, he's healthy. I think that's it. I think it's health. It's been, it's been one thing or another. And I think back to the calf year and, and,

how he felt at that point. And it was like, yeah, I'm feeling really good. I'm a year removed from the knee. And it's same thing with the wrist. He didn't say that he was completely out of the woods wrist wise. I still think he's figuring life out post super serious wrist surgery. Obviously it's, it's better than it was a year ago and better than it was a few months ago. And so that's good. But no, I think that that's it is the health. And he just looks

He looks like you would expect a high-end top three, top two, whatever you want to say, quarterback on the planet to look. I'll say that. From an in-shape standpoint, I pay attention to that stuff. The way he was moving, throwing on the move, all of those things. He looks...

the way you'd want and i also think that you mentioned that the hair certainly stands out to a lot of people i don't care as much i preferred blonde joe but uh i think that the hair is certainly something uh something a lot of people will discuss i expect that joe burrow hair watch will be a topic between now and the regular season because people react to things this guy does in

Crazy ways. And so, you know, right now it's grown out again, but who knows what it'll look like. He might, he might on a whim go diet pink. Who knows that this guy last year is bleached blonde. Maybe not pink, maybe not pink, but what if he embraced his inner Dennis Rodman? You know what I'm saying? His inner Dennis Rodman. Look at you. Like, nah, Joe, Joe's not doing that. Not pink, maybe orange. Yeah. Yeah.

So anyway, you talked a little bit about Trey Hendrickson, was asked about Trey Hendrickson. The Jermaine Burton topic also came up a little bit today between Zach and Joe. And we talked about that yesterday, which is why I bring that up now. But Joe Burrow backing Trey Hendrickson, as Joe Burrow does, he backs players in these discussions every opportunity he gets. But what were your thoughts on the language Joe used around Trey Hendrickson where he

reference to market level deal reference getting paid what he deserved and didn't go into it a whole lot more than that. We'll see what happens was the way his response to the question started. What was your takeaway from Joe's comments on on Trey backing Trey at the same time, not putting the front office in a really bad spot because I think he sees both sides kind of like we do. And it's it's tough. I think

There's been quarterbacks in the past that have gone after teammates and taken the team side. And then the other way, which we've seen with Joe, where it's like we are backing the player and putting pressure on the team. I don't feel like Joe was trying to add more pressure to the team today. Like I felt, say, in January when he was asked about those guys at the same time. And part of that, I think, is because people in the building just kind of expect Trey to be to be on the roster. Yeah.

at this point. It's kind of silly to think that they would trade him even though he may feel otherwise. Right. And so I think that goes without saying. And then at the same time, it does need to be resolved. And I think Joe gets that. And Joe knows that Trey deserves a raise and deserves to be paid a market level deal. Now, what that market is, I think, is different than just the free deal. And I think that there are people in the building that feel that way as well. And I'm not talking about front office people. And so

Finding that balance is something Joe probably had to do in his answer and did. And I think the question now is, do you want this to be a question in a few months, just over two months when we're talking about mock turtle soup at the Bengals media luncheon? Do you want Trey Hendrickson to be a topic when Joe Burrow talks for the first time at training camp? Do you want those things to be

themes and discussions throughout that. And that's what the Bengals have to decide. That's what Trey has to decide over the next two months or so. And is it going to be another one of those hold-in situations? And we talked about the Bengals kind of playing ball with Jamar last year to some degree, and that would be something for the team to navigate with Trey Hendrickson if it gets to that point. But if he's there physically...

then that's the whole thing like it was with Jamar last year, where he's participating one day and then it's like, oh no, not participating anymore. That didn't go the way I wanted it to go. And maybe something happened in negotiations behind the scenes. And yeah, I mean, definitely lends itself to a distraction the closer you get to the season. But I think unsurprising response here from Joe Burrow.

He has always taken a pro player approach when asked about guys and their financial decisions and has respected the business aspect of it from a player perspective. And I think he understands how all that works, right? It's not like it's something that... He went through it. ...is a foreign science to him. Yeah, well, and he saw it with Jesse Bates too. And it didn't have the outcome that he wanted, obviously, with Jesse Bates. But even throughout that process, it was...

on the side of the player there, like wanting Jesse to get what he could get. I think if Joe thought or had a big gripe about how this process had been handled up to this point, I think the answer would have been different.

I think it would have been a bit more direct. Now, I'm not saying he's involved in discussions early on in this news conference. He was asked about Jamar and T, and he said, hey, I don't want to be... It's not my job. I don't want to be the one that's influencing. Obviously, he had influence and took it upon himself and all of those things. But I get the logic there. He wants the Bengals to pay their good players because they want to pay their good players and really good players and great players in this sense with Trey. So I...

I do think the answer would have been different and it would have been a bit more, Hey, it needs to get done. If he thought that the Bengals were doing wrong by Trey. And part of this is some of it takes time. If you had gone back to January, when we talked about Trey Hendrickson, I think we both kind of felt like this could take time. It may be a long time to, to get the right deal done because the Bengals have always had all the leverage in this situation. And yeah,

Hopefully something gets done. I certainly think Joe believes that, not that it will, but that the Bengals are going to try to get it done to a degree. Otherwise, I think he would have put more pressure on them. For what's that? He also didn't say the way that he...

He also didn't say the way he talked about T and Jamar. He had confidence that he was going to be back next year. The way that he talked about those guys, when he expressed confidence in the team getting those done, not that he was asked. It was a pretty concise answer. I do think you make a good point that the answer could have been different if he was particularly upset about the way things have played out so far. Maybe he is, and he just recognizes that

His time to make his opinion known has passed. His opinion has not changed. And I think he's made it clear that his opinion hasn't really changed on the matter, but it's not...

off-season roster transformation time anymore. It's we're on the field trying to get better as a team. The roster is mostly set at this point in time as Montrevious Adams is not a Cincinnati Bengal as of the time of recording. It's just another example of the way the roster is set. And maybe they're still going to look around and find a defensive tackle here or there, but mostly set, right? And so at that point,

you kind of maybe change your approach if you're joe burrow as a quarterback of your team and take a more football based view rather than a transactional roster building base view at this part of the offseason yeah there's a chance that's the case for sure by the way montrevious adams i told that's not going to get done maybe it changes maybe in the near future but uh i don't think anything's imminent left without a deal bummer i thought he was a good player and uh

Could have helped the Bengals, but unfortunate that they weren't able to get something done with him.

The reason that I see it as unfortunate, not that we have a ton of time to talk about it at this point, is not necessarily anything specifically about the player, although we talked about the fit a ton, but he was the newly available player. The other guys that we talked about as defensive tackle options have been on the market forever, and as far as we know, the Bengals haven't really kicked the tires on those other guys. Montrevious Adams is this guy they actually brought into the building in the same sort of tier as some of the other options of the position, and...

leaves as far as we know without a deal and unlikely to consummate a deal in the near future. I do think that they're still in the defensive tackle market. Yeah, but is it waiting for a cut at this point? Or is it somebody that they've had an option to talk to in the last two months that they haven't talked to? And that's the question. And by the time people hear this or watch it, maybe there's, oh, well, this guy's going to be visiting. Who knows? Hopefully.

Hopefully they can find the right guy for sure. Yeah, the next defensive tackle that the Bengals talk to, we will, of course, talk about here on Locked on Bengals. Maybe I'll go spend time watching another 30 to 50 snaps of a player that the Bengals don't end up signing, and it'll be a great use of my time. Everything will be fine. I'm not bitter at all. And we'll have that for you here on Locked on Bengals. Until next time, thanks for listening to this episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. Hootay, and have a good one.

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