With the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals selected edge rusher Shemar Stewart out of Texas A&M.
Stewart is an athletic FREAK. He’s 6’5” and weighs 267 lbs, but all of his testing numbers are outrageous. Stewart got a 10.0 RAS score, which is a metric that combines an NFL prospect’s performance at the NFL Combine as well as other athletic testing events and compiles a score. A 10 is CRAZY athletic. ELITE athleticism if you will.
Obviously with those kind of numbers you’d think that Stewart was one of the most productive defensive ends in the country, right?
………No. Stewart’s production on the field is bizarre. In 37 games at Texas A&M he only compiled 4.5 sacks, which isn’t great.
I’m not going to lie, I was very upset last night when this pick came in. Mainly because in my opinion the Bengals need starters right now. They need high production right now. In my opinion, Stewart is more of a project player than an instant impact player. In two years, this pick could turn out to be a home-run, but do the Bengals have time to wait? I don’t think they do. This defense was insanely bad and needs instant impact guys NOW.
It also remains to be seen whether or not defensive coordinator Al Golden and defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery can develop talent. I believe that they can, but how quickly? We cannot base this opinion on what Lou Anarumo and his staff did, because as we all know they were terrible at developing young talent on the defense. So in that case, it’s only fair that we give Al Golden and company a chance to develop talent.
What better way to start than with an athletic freak like Shemar Stewart.
Stewart absolutely killed the pre-draft process and turned a ton of heads at the Senior Bowl with his dominant performance.
His testing numbers at the NFL Combine were outrageous for a man of his size.
I’ve seen a lot of people comparing him to former Texas A&M alum, Myles Garrett..
Whoa. Let’s pump the brakes a bit here. Physically, yes they match up, but Myles Garrett had insane production in college and continues to be one of, if not the best defensive end in football. That’s an unfair comparison to both Shemar Stewart and Myles Garrett.
This pick was a gamble by the Bengals, but at the end of the day there are worse things to gamble on than a kid who is an absolute athletic freak. This is who the Bengals selected so in return, Shemar Stewart is now my guy. I want nothing but success for him in Cincinnati. This team needs another wrecker on defense and I hope he can be that guy sooner rather than later.
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