NIL

Back to school? Back to the draft? Shemar Stewart could exploit loophole in chaotic rulebook to burn Bengals

Published

5 months ago

July 15, 2025

When it comes to rookie contracts in the NFL, there isn’t usually too much negotiation involved. Thanks to the collective bargaining agreement from 2011, every draft contract is essentially slotted due to the rookie wage scale, which means each player knows how much they’re going to make as soon as they get drafted.

What this means is that negotiating a rookie contract shouldn’t be that difficult, well, unless you’re the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals seem to invent new ways to frustrate their fans (and players) every year, and that’s once again happening this year.

The team’s first-round draft pick, Texas A&M pass rusher Shemar Stewart, showed up at OTAs, but he didn’t participate in a single workout this spring because he still hasn’t signed his contract. He also showed up for the first two days of minicamp during a whirlwind 48 hours where he watched practice before abruptly leaving prior to Thursday’s final session of camp. He didn’t do any on-field activity during those 48 hours, but he did make time to complain about Cincinnat’s front office, which seems to be a theme for Bengals players this offseason.

Bengals contract drama: Cincinnati may be a title contender, but money issues keep distracting franchise

Cody Benjamin

We know this isn’t about the money. Both sides know that Stewart will be signing a four-year, $18.94 million rookie contract that’s fully guaranteed. The 17th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft was complaining because the Bengals threw a curveball in their contract negotiations with him by adding new language to his deal that the Bengals didn’t use with their past two first-round picks. The team essentially wants to add a default clause, according to former NFL team executive Andrew Brandt. This would allow the Bengals to void future guarantees if he were to get into trouble (this could be a suspension for on-field conduct, off-field conduct, an arrest or anything else the Bengals can think of). Normally, a first-round pick gets a fully guaranteed four-year contract, but this would give the Bengals some wiggle room to potentially get out of that if he were to get into trouble at any point during his four-year deal.

Stewart is adamantly against the language being in his contract.

“I’m 100 percent right,” Stewart said about his stance.”I’m not asking for nothing you all have never done before, but in you all case, you all just want to win an argument instead of winning more games.”

This has created arguably the most acrimonious standoff between a rookie and his team since Joey Bosa held out of Chargers’ training camp for 31 days in 2016, which is the longest holdout by any rookie since the 2011 CBA was implemented.

The Bengals are playing hardball with Stewart, and in the past, that has usually worked for them, but this time around, Stewart does have at least one bit of leverage that rookies in the past didn’t have: Money.

Stewart’s leverage. For most of NFL history, rookies were generally broke when they entered the league, so many of them would quickly sign their first contract so they could get the signing bonus in their pocket. That’s not the case with Stewart, though. The former Texas A&M star collected plenty of NIL money in college, so he definitely isn’t broke, which means he can afford to wait things out until he can get the Bengals to cave, if that’s what he wants to do.

If the Bengals aren’t willing to change the language in the contract, that next question becomes: How far would Stewart be willing to go to get what he wants?

He was asked that question this week and he said “it depends.”

Stewart is the prototype of the money and player empowerment era that’s swept up college football recruiting and college football and has now fully arrived at the NFL. He was a high-profile recruit by the time he was a high school sophomore in Florida, debuting as the No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2022 in the early rankings (he finished ranked No. 9 overall). He’s comfortable in the spotlight. He’s comfortable talking money — a player of his ilk in college football would have commanded at least $1 million the last few transfer portal cycles, and you can bet Texas A&M’s NIL collectives spent a pretty penny to keep Stewart in the system after its infamous, best-class-money-can-buy 2022 recruiting class fell apart.

Stewart can hold a grudge, too. There’s a famous card room story about Stewart from his days as a recruit.

Stewart was a heavy LSU lean and made Baton Rouge his first stop on his official visit circuit. LSU’s operations staff misspelled Stewart’s name on one of the many handouts and greeting pamphlets recruits receive. LSU was never a factor for Stewart after that.

Stewart signed with Texas A&M in somewhat of a Signing Day stunner after hometown Miami made a big push. Texas A&M is believed to have paid more. Stewart’s people, I’ve heard this week, are driven by the principle that they want what they think they deserve and they will not compromise if they don’t get it.

Stewart has several options and he could quickly turn into the Bengals’ (and NFL’s) worst nightmare if he decides to go with a nuclear option of re-entering the draft next year, a process that is outlined in article 6 of the CBA.

Here’s a look at two of his options he would have if he doesn’t want to sign with the Bengals:

He could re-enter the NFL Draft. If Stewart doesn’t sign his contract and he doesn’t play football at all in 2025, he could re-enter the NFL Draft in 2026. If he went this route, it means that any team could draft him next year, except for the Bengals. If a player were to successfully pull off a power move like this, it could throw a wrench into the future of the draft. It would set up potential situations where a player could sit out if he got drafted by a team he didn’t want to play for. Stewart would essentially have until November to make a decision on this. He’s allowed to sign his rookie contract until the Tuesday following Week 10. If he doesn’t sign it by that date, then he’s not allowed to play in 2025. There’s another upside to this strategy: If Stewart went undrafted in 2026 — maybe his situation with the Bengals scares other teams away — then he would become an undrafted free agent following the 2026 draft and he’d be free to sign with any team.
He could ask for a trade. If the Bengals won’t give him the contract language he wants, maybe someone else will. There is a unique deadline in place for any team that wants to trade a rookie: A deal has to be made at least 30 days before the start of the regular season, so a decision would have to be made here by Aug. 5 or Aug. 8 (The CBA isn’t clear if it’s 30 days before the start of the first game of the regular season or 30 days before the Bengals’ first game of the season). The Bengals don’t like being bullied, so this scenario would probably be unlikely, but it would be an option.

Those are the two most practical options, but there’s also a wild card option: Stewart could try to return to Texas A&M for his senior year.

During Monday’s episode of the Cover 3 podcast, CBS Sports college analyst Bud Elliott noted that Stewart has actually been working out at Texas A&M this summer.

“A guy who has had some good A&M stuff in the past, he hit me, he’s like, ‘Hey, Shemar might end up back here,'” Elliott said.

Elliott then said his source had a few more nuggets.

“‘He’s been at College Station, he’s been fully involved in workouts, He’s holding out from the Bengals, (the) relationship is toxic. He could try to come back and play again this season and go into the draft again next year.'”

The NCAA has rules against a player returning to college once they’ve been drafted, so he would likely be facing a legal battle if he went this route, but it could be something that he’s considering. And as Elliott noted, it seems that everything with the NCAA is subject to litigation right now, so Stewart could certainly come out victorious if he decided to go to court.

Stewart could also head to the CFL to stay in football shape, but he likely wouldn’t go that route, because if he signs with another professional football league, that would give his NFL rights to the Bengals for the next three years.

The most likely scenario is that the two sides agree to a deal, but as the Bosa situation proved, these things can drag on. When the Bengals are dug in on something, they don’t usually budge, so it will be interesting to see who wins this multi-million dollar game of chicken.

The Bengals have had a history of slow starts under Zac Taylor and part of that has had to do with contentious contract negotiations. Ja’Marr Chase sat out of training camp last year due to unhappiness with his contract and the Bengals offense looked out of sync to start the season.

Even Joe Burrow seems to be getting tired of the distractions. The QB was asked if Trey Hendrickson’s absence was a distraction and he answered with two words: “Of course.”

“Last year, we had two. This year, we have one,” Burrow said of the holdouts the Bengals have dealt with. “So we do have less. You’d love to have none, but that’s life in the NFL.”

If you’re scoring at home, that means the Bengals sack leader from 2024 (Hendrickson) and the pass rusher who’s supposed to complement him on the defense (Stewart) are both sitting out.

The Bengals had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season, and now, there’s a chance that Stewart and Hendrickson could both possibly sit out training camp, which certainly won’t make the unit better. It’s another frustrating offseason for Bengals fans, who are probably used to it at this point.

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NIL

Steve Spurrier reveals his concern level for the state of college football

Published

2 minutes ago

December 21, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Steve Spurrier is never shy about voicing his thoughts on college football. And he’s not a huge fan of a more recent development in the last few years. Well, a few of them.

There have been plenty of changes to the sport in that timeframe. The implementation of new transfer portal windows, reform of the transfer process in general, the introduction of NIL legislation and more.

Spurrier recently joined Another Dooley Noted Podcast and opened up on the state of the sport. He was blunt.

“Yeah, I wish all this had not happened, but it is what it is now,” Steve Spurrier said. “I don’t know how they change it, because they don’t know how to do it either. There have got to be smarter people than me that can look at it and say, ‘Why don’t we put some like… you’ve got to stay two years somewhere.’ Or just anything. And every school gets $20 or $22 million and that’s it, you can’t spend more than that. And you’ve got to have accounts of it.”

In other words, let’s rein in the free transfer era a bit. And let’s level the playing field when it comes to NIL spending. The alternative is the kind of chaos we’ve seen unfold in the sport.

For Steve Spurrier, there are some obvious things that should be cleaned up. For one, it’s impossible for most people to get a handle on what’s going on in the NIL world.

“I heard Ricky Neuheisel talking on his radio show the other day, he said, ‘College football is the only sport in the world, or the only business in the world you don’t have to tell anybody how much money you make,’” Spurrier said. “It’s supposed to be public knowledge.”

Steve Spurrier provided two high-profile examples. Both came from the SEC.

“Nobody knows what (DJ) Lagway got,” Spurrier said. “They asked me, ‘What did Lagway get?’ I said, ‘I think three, four or five million. Arch Manning supposedly got six million a year. So I can’t put an exact number on it because they don’t tell you.”

For those in charge in the sport, the lack of transparency is a feature, not a bug, Spurrier said. Coaches have an easier time managing things if it’s not readily apparent that one player is getting paid far more than another.

“Obviously they tell the players don’t tell anybody how much you got now, because we can’t give everybody that much,” Steve Spurrier said. “So yeah, it’s just what it is. But like people say, the attendance is good as ever, the TV ratings are as good as ever. So people are watching and there’s great interest in it, I will say that. But just have some rules somehow. You would think they would want to do that, but they haven’t done it yet.”

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NIL

Calls mount for College Football Playoff to make drastic changes after Saturday’s games

Published

55 minutes ago

December 21, 2025

Your Sports Nation

ESPN analyst and former head coach Nick Saban ruffled a few feathers earlier in the week, but could not hand out some “I told you so” takes.

Saban is one of many advocates of some significant change in the College Football Playoff system who saw Saturday’s results validate a point he was making all week. The system, fairly obviously, is broken.

Two Group of Five teams reached the CFP after the ACC stumbled, fumbled, and tumbled to 8-5 Duke winning the league. After Saturday’s results for Tulane and James Madison, it’s fair to wonder: what on Earth were they doing in the Playoff?

Ole Miss waxed Tulane 41-10 in a game that wasn’t even as close as its lop-sided score. Oregon likewise easily controlled JMU, rolling up a 34-6 halftime edge before taking the easy victory. After an fairly electric Oklahoma/Alabama showdown on Friday and a defensive battle between Miami and Texas A&M on Saturday morning, the CFP suddenly fell very, very flat.

Enter Saban having built a solid base for his “I told you so” platform. Back on Thursday, on The Pat McAfee Show, Saban rebuked the entire idea of G5 teams in the Playoff. “Would we allow ther winner of the AAA baseball league… in the World Series playoffs?” asked Saban. “That’s the equivalent of what we do when JMU gets into the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame doesn’t.”

Oregon wide receiver Malik Benson celebrates with tight end Jamari Johnson — Oregon Ducks wide receiver Malik Benson (4) celebrates with Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson (9) | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

Likewise, Urban Meyer made similar arguments last week. On The Triple Option podcast, he advocated for a qualification test for G5 teams– they should play three teams in the top 50 to qualify. “You’re telling the [Notre Dame] Fighting Irish to sit home and James Madison’s going?” asked Meyer. “The better team is supposed to be in the game.”

It was certainly clear on Saturday that the better team was not actually in the game. Joe Tessitore and Jesse Palmer actually made that point clearly in broadcasting the Ole Miss/Tulane blowout.

“This has been a completely non-competitive game,” Tessitore said. “If this were Notre Dame, what kind of game would we have had?”

Jesse Palmer stated, “Imagine how big this environment already is… and what that would have looked like if Notre Dame had that opportunity…. I think this is something that the committee needs to continue working out as they press forward.”

Palmer and Tessitore made a more moderate case, essentially adovicating allowing one team to make a Playoff appearance, but not a second.

That said, considering the trouble that both G5 teams had, a separate bracket might be the only way to make the Playoff experience tenable for Group of Five schools.

With power conferences going to nine-game schedules, it’s also less and less likely that big schools will want to play top Group of Five foes.

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NIL

Grimsley’s Faizon Brandon cemented his legacy in the best way possible: on the field

Published

2 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Faizon Brandon’s decision to return to the field late in his senior senior was eerily similar to the decision made by another Grimsley player just five seasons earlier.

“I’m very glad to end it the right way,” he said.

Travis Shaw, who at the time was ranked as high as the No. 4 defensive lineman in his senior class class, was — like Brandon — coming off a state championship the year before. Also like Brandon, Shaw was injured early in the year — Shaw missed all eight of the first games to start the 2021 season, returning to the field just in time for senior night and a playoff run.

But Brandon, the nation’s top-ranked quarterback and 2024 N.C. Gatorade Player of the Year, had to have had more on his mind than Shaw did.

After all, a lot has changed in five years.

Shaw had to weigh the possibility of returning to the field and getting re-injured and how that might affect his ability to play right away as a freshman.

The birth of the “NIL era” in college football means players have a real financial risk.

Brandon’s injury — a ligament on his right thumb — was in an area where you can’t be too careful.

“Faizon,” who has earned the first-name-only recognition statewide that few players reach in four years in any sport, was also the athlete who challenged the state’s NIL rules and won.

If anyone understood what was at stake, he did.

But sports are not made with the spirit of accounting.

They were made for competitors.

“When he goes out and everybody that thinks they know says ‘You shouldn’t come back.’ I got phone calls saying he had already moved to Tennessee. I thought that was funny because he was in my office when I got that call,” Grimsley coach Darryl Brown said. “And everything else, you know, like he’s done, he’s not playing at Grimsley High School anymore. And he does everything within his power to get himself back to be a part of this run with his teammates. He could have said, I’m good, I already won a state championship.”

In his final year, he returned to the playoffs after missing all but the season opener, wasn’t quite himself. Yet, while playing a total of just six games, and throwing 11 touchdowns, he also walked away as a two-time N.C. High School Athletic Association champion and a two-time MVP.

“Playing high school football in anywhere, playing varsity high school football, for anybody listening, it means something,” Brown said. “It matters. It’s important. A lot of times everybody wants to speed stuff up. But that school you’re at and the teammates you’re with, and the coaches you play for, that matters. And you can see that it means something to our kids.”

He had all the reasons, probably millions if you count every potential dollar, to not play again for the Whirlies. He would have still walked away as one of the best North Carolina high school quarterbacks since the turn of the century.

But he didn’t go out as a healthy scratch.

He went out as a two-time champion, two-time MVP, and his legacy at Grimsley — like Shaw’s — was cemented where it should have always been: on the field.

“I was just trying to give it everything I got, you know, go out there and lay it on the line,” Brandon said. “That was the biggest thing that I felt whenever I came to realization that it would be in my last high school game is just giving it everything I got.”

Faizon Brandon. Grimsley defeated Clayton in the NCHSAA 7A football state championship on December 12, 2025. (Photo: Joshua Chayer/HighSchoolOT)

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NIL

Michigan urged to hire veteran college football coach amid coaching search

Published

3 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The search is on for Michigan to not just find a quality replacement for Sherrone Moore as its next head football coach, but more importantly to scout a figurehead who will bring stability to a program that badly needs it.

And despite the Wolverines arriving late to the college football coaching carousel, with seemingly all the best options already accounted for, a recent resignation at a major program could actually help the school at this crucial moment.

The departure of coaching veteran Kyle Whittingham from Utah could spell a blessing in disguise for Michigan, ESPN broadcaster Matt Barrie said on his eponymous show.

What Michigan needs right now

Michigan urged to hire college football veteran HC amid coaching search — Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

“What they need is Kyle Whittingham. They need Kyle Whittingham,” Barrie said on his college football program of Michigan’s ongoing search.

Not only is Whittingham a coaching figure who has been a proven winner and fielded consistently-competitive teams. He also has a very good reputation.

“They need Whittingham, who ran a good, clean program at Utah,” Barrie said.

“I get it. He’s older. He’s not the sexiest hire in terms of name recognition and youth. But you need a guy to steady that ship.”

Michigan needs to be steadied

The ship has most certainly not been steady these last couple years.

Whether it was the Covid-era recruiting scandal under Jim Harbaugh, the sign-stealing affair connected to former assistant Connor Stalions, or the shocking removal of Sherrone Moore following an alleged relationship with a staffer that resulted in him facing criminal charges, it’s clear Michigan needs a reboot.

And yet, despite everything, it’s also been quite a run for the Wolverines for one very good reason, as the program won its first national championship of the century under Harbaugh’s direction in 2023.

But given everything that happened during and since then, change is in order.

Michigan urged to hire veteran college football head coach amid coaching search — Jeff Swinger-Imagn Images

So, is Whittingham the answer?

Judging by his own recent remarks, he very well could be.

Following his own departure from Utah, the veteran coach very much gave the impression that he is still interested in patroling a sideline somewhere.

“Who knows? We’ll see, I guess, stepping down, stepping away, and re-evaluate things and see where we’re at. I’m a free agent. I’m in the transfer portal,” Whittingham told reporters.

“Like I said, I’m at peace and I did not want to be that guy that overstayed his welcome with people just saying, ‘Hey, when’s this guy gonna leave?’ That was not my intention, ever. I hope I didn’t do that. I’m sure with some people, I did do that, but the timing to me, the timing is right.”

He is a proven winner

Whittingham is the all-time winningest coach in Utah football history, going 177-88 during his 21 seasons with the program.

Michigan is looking for known commodity, although at 66 he may be on the older end of the spectrum as the school considers what it hopes will be a long-term solution.

But having an experienced head coach suddenly come on the market at this exact moment must have Michigan wondering if he could be the answer, as most of the other high-profile names are already taken or staying put where they are, getting lucrative extensions to prevent their fleeing.

Known as someone who has recruited and fielded some punishing defenses over the years, and whose teams have traditionally dominated at home, Whittingham could be the man for the job.

What the markets are saying

Whittingham remains the favorite to become the next head coach at Michigan, sitting out in front with 22 percent odds to take the job, according to the prediction market Kalshi.

Washington head coach Jedd Fisch sits in second with 16 percent likelihood, and Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm places third at 14 percent.

(Barrie)

2025 CFP Odds: Lines, Spreads for Each Quarterfinal Game

Published

4 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Your Sports Nation

We’re on to the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.

Let’s look at the odds for the second round at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Dec. 21.

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31

No. 10 Miami vs. No. 2 Ohio State
Cotton Bowl

Spread: Ohio State -10
Moneyline: Ohio State -360, Miami +285
O/U: 41.5

What to know: Miami won a defensive slugfest in the first round at Texas A&M, and now it gets the defending champion Buckeyes, with a spot in the semifinals on the line. What has to worry Hurricanes fans is that Miami scored just 10 points against the Aggies on Saturday, a middle-of-the-pack defensive team. Ohio State has the best defense in the country, only allowing more than 10 points twice this season. No team has scored over 16 on the Buckeyes.

THURSDAY, JAN. 1

No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 1 Indiana
Rose Bowl

Spread: Indiana -7
Moneyline: Indiana -258, Alabama +210
O/U: 48.5

What to know: Would you believe that the Hoosiers are a 7-point favorite over mighty Alabama? It’s a new era in college football. The Tide went to Oklahoma and knocked off the Sooners in the first round of the CFP, and now they get a date with undefeated Indiana, the top team in the country. Indiana will trot out Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza at quarterback, and the Hoosiers have scored 55 points or more six times this season.

No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 Georgia
Sugar Bowl

Spread: Georgia -7
Moneyline: Georgia -270, Ole Miss +220
O/U: 56.5

What to know: Ole Miss dominated Tulane in the first round of the Playoff, jumping out to a 41-3 lead before winning 41-10. Now, the Rebels get another shot at the Bulldogs, who they lost to back on Oct. 18 in Georgia, 43-35. It won’t be a cakewalk for the Bulldogs, who trailed 35-26 in the third quarter of that game before scoring the final 17 points to eke out an 8-point win.

No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 4 Texas Tech
Orange Bowl

Spread: Oregon -1.5
Moneyline: Oregon -120, Texas Tech +100
O/U: 52.5

What to know: Oregon did what many thought it would do in the first round, and that’s rout James Madison. The Ducks led 34-3 before cruising to a 51-24 victory, setting up a date with Texas Tech on New Year’s Day. OU still has a single loss to its name this season, a 30-20 defeat at the hands of No. 1 Indiana on Oct. 11. The Red Raiders also have only one loss on the year, falling at Arizona State back on Oct. 18.

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