Bengals make 2025 first-rounder Shemar Stewart a healthy scratch vs. Ravens
Shemar Stewart is inactive for Cincinnati's game in Baltimore despite being healthy, as a deep defensive line rotation keeps the young edge rusher off the gameday roster
Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart, the team's 2025 first-round pick, is a healthy inactive for Sunday's game against the Ravens, Ari Meirov reported.
Stewart is one of five healthy scratches for Cincinnati, and The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. laid out why the young edge rusher landed on the list.
#Bengals inactives (all healthy scratches): S Russ Yeast C Connor Lew OT Myles Hinton DE Shemar Stewart DT Landon Robinson My thoughts on the Shemar Stewart healthy scratch: The Bengals extreme health on the DL coupled with a matchup-specific lean at other positions are why he lands here. The bottom line is Stewart missing camp and preseason has him behind a talented second-wave group. Cashius Howell, Cedric Johnson and Kris Jenkins have earned trust through productive play. They aren’t going to sit any them down for Stewart, who by all accounts is practicing well, but it's hard to prove enough in practice to supplant any of those three on gameday. Eventually, you have to believe Stewart’s moment to play will come with injury issues at some point during the season, it always does. Then, he can will have a path to get reps, start producing and earn his spot. Right now isn’t the time, the trust isn’t high enough. But I can say with 100 percent certainty this has nothing to do with any discipline, trade chatter, or negative internal issue. The team sounds happy with where Stewart is at and views him as somebody that will help them this year.View on X →
Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr): #Bengals inactives (all healthy scratches): S Russ Yeast C Connor Lew OT Myles Hinton DE Shemar Stewart DT Landon Robinson My thoughts on the Shemar Stewart healthy scratch: The Bengals extreme health on the DL coupled with a matchup-specific lean at other positions are why he lands here. The bottom line is Stewart missing camp and preseason has him behind a talented second-wave group. Cashius Howell, Cedric Johnson and Kris Jenkins have earned trust through productive play. They aren’t going to sit any them down for Stewart, who by all accounts is practicing well, but it's hard to prove enough in practice to supplant any of those three on gameday. Eventually, you have to believe Stewart’s moment to play will come with injury issues at some point during the season, it always does. Then, he can will have a path to get reps, start producing and earn his spot. Right now isn’t the time, the trust isn’t high enough. But I can say with 100 percent certainty this has nothing to do with any discipline, trade chatter, or negative internal issue. The team sounds happy with where Stewart is at and views him as somebody that will help them this year.
The Bengals' defensive line is healthy, and Stewart is still catching up. Stewart is working his way back after missing all of training camp with a hyperextended knee. In the meantime, Cashius Howell, Cedric Johnson and Kris Jenkins have earned gameday snaps with their play.
The scratch will feed trade talk. Stewart was mentioned as a player to watch in ESPN's Week 7 notes from Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano, per Baby, with the deadline set for Nov. 10. Dehner, though, said with certainty that Sunday's decision has nothing to do with discipline, trade chatter or any internal issue, and that the team views Stewart as someone who will help this year.
The Bengals (3-2) visit the Ravens (4-2) at 1 p.m. ET.