The Near-Extinction of NFL Rookie Holdouts & Why Shemar Stewart Might Be an Exception?

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With Cincinnati Bengals’ first-round pick Shemar Stewart publicly expressing his displeasure with contract negotiations, and then leaving mandatory minicamp on Thursday over his unsigned deal, a rare rookie contract dispute looks to be brewing in Cincinnati.

Of course, the Bengals’ history in this department is at play — star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson is in a contract extension standoff with the organization, while Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have resolved prior disputes. However, rookie contract issues are especially rare occurrences since the introduction of the rookie wage scale in 2011.

Beginning with that year’s collective bargaining agreement, rookie salaries have been fixed within a pre-established pay scale. The value of those contracts varies depending on when a player is selected in the draft, and all drafted rookies are signed to four-year deals (teams have a fifth-year option on first-rounders).

Essentially, the wage scale nixed negotiations and holdouts over rookie contracts, as was the case two years prior with the San Francisco 49ers’ No. 10 pick Michael Crabtree, who missed training camp and the first month of the regular season based on the belief that he should have been paid like a higher draft pick.

But even with a wage scale in place, there have been outliers.

Defensive end Joey Bosa’s contract dispute with the then-San Diego Chargers is perhaps the most notable of the post-rookie wage scale era. Bosa was selected with the No. 3 pick by the Chargers in 2016, but remained unsigned for over a month after he was scheduled to report to the team on July 29, reportedly due to offset language and the timing of his signing bonus. Shortly after signing his contract, Bosa injured his hamstring and missed the first four games, though he went on to win defensive rookie of the year and was a five-time Pro Bowler with the Chargers.

In 2018, Chicago Bears rookie linebacker Roquan Smith missed the first two preseason games and 16 practices amid a contract holdout. That dispute centered around a new rule penalizing players who used their helmets to initiate a hit. Smith, selected with the No. 8 pick out of Georgia, ultimately signed a contract that protected his guaranteed money if he were to be suspended by the league for an illegal helmet hit.

Stewart is one of four first-round 2025 draftees who have yet to sign their rookie contracts — the Jacksonville Jaguars’ No. 2 pick Travis Hunter and the Denver Broncos’ No. 20 pick Jahdae Barron are the others. There’s not much cause for alarm bells in those cases, as plenty of rookies don’t sign until closer to training camps, though a large majority of second-round picks also seem to be lagging this year.

The Houston Texans signed rookie wide receiver Jayden Higgins to the first fully guaranteed contract for a second-round draft pick last month. Shortly after, the Cleveland Browns signed second-round linebacker Carson Schwesinger to a fully guaranteed deal. Schwesinger and Higgins were the first and second picks of the second round, respectively, and since then, no other second-round pick has signed their rookie deal, per Spotrac, perhaps in hopes of following the new precedent.

But the hostility from Stewart and the Bengals is a unique circumstance. The estimated value for Stewart, selected at No. 17, is $18.94 million, per Spotrac’s rookie wage scale estimations.

“I’m 100 percent right,” Stewart said earlier this week. “I’m not asking for nothing y’all have never done before. But in y’all case, y’all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games.”
What makes Stewart’s situation different?

The central piece of the issue between Stewart and the Bengals lives in a phrase regarding what happens with guaranteed money should Stewart default on the contract. Some version of default language exists in every first-round contract.

In this case, the language the Bengals used in 2023 for first-round pick Myles Murphy regarding the clause was different than what they used in 2024 for Amarius Mims (who signed his rookie contract on July 22, 2024). They are attempting to change it again this time for Stewart, the main point of contention.

The default language they are trying to use is common among NFL teams. For reference, they offered Stewart the same language as the pick before (Arizona Cardinals’ Walter Nolen) and after (Seattle Seahawks’ Grey Zabel), according to a league source. The Bengals generally structure guarantees differently than the majority of the rest of the league, so that matters in terms of comparing their language to other teams using it.

The biggest difference between Stewart and the rest of the first-round picks was his refusal to sign the practice waiver. Each of the remaining unsigned picks entering this week had practiced despite not having a completed contract. The waiver protected them against any injury. Stewart did not and instead chose to sit out. — Paul Dehner Jr., Cincinnati Bengals senior writer