Bengals prez Brown - 'Foolishness' Shemar Stewart still unsigned - ESPN

CINCINNATI — Bengals team president Mike Brown didn't mince words about the contract situation between the team and unsigned rookie Shemar Stewart.

At the team's annual media luncheon and Brown's lone media availability each year, he said it was «foolishness» that the team and Stewart have been unable to sign a contract. Stewart, the 17th overall pick in this year's draft, is the lone first-round selection that has yet to sign with his respective club.

The sticking point in the negotiations, Brown said, is a dispute over the language in Stewart's rookie contract pertaining to potential conduct detrimental to the team. In that scenario, it could void guaranteed money owed to Stewart, which is a clause the Bengals added recently to mirror other teams around the league.

That is what prompted Brown to voice his stance on the contract.

«We've been here for a long time, it's never happened and that's holding up this contract,» Brown said Monday. «From our vantage point, it's a form of foolishness. It just ought to get done.»

Stewart did not partake in any workouts since the Bengals drafted him in April. According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the team opted not to add in additional language into the participation waiver that would have enabled Stewart to practice while the two sides work out a contract. Stewart did not report with the team's other five rookies on Sunday.

Bengals executive Duke Tobin, the team's de facto general manager, said he believed Cincinnati was likely the last team to implement that language into its contracts. He also didn't take umbrage at Stewart specifically but those surrounding him.

«He's listening to the advice that he's paying for,» Tobin said. «I don't understand the advice. I