A few well-known maxims have held true around the NFL for years. Teams need to build through the trenches. Overspending in free agency is almost always a losing proposition. Mike Brown is notoriously cheap.
The longtime Cincinnati Bengals owner has taken cover behind far worse owners around the National Football League—thank you, Dan Snyder!—but the latest scenario unfolding with Bengals first-round pick Shemar Stewart is bringing up the topic once again.
A cheap trip down Bengals' memory lane
We'll pick up Stewart's tale in a second, but for those who aren't well-versed in Brown's frugality, let's take a hilarious tour through the Bengals past.
There's the time that T.J. Houshmandzadeh outed the Bengals' owner for a number of questionable economical choices, including making used jock straps the only options available for Bengals players. Per Houshmandzadeh, Bengals tackle Willie Anderson and running back Ki-Jana Carter stepped up to buy new ones for the entire team. Also per Daugherty, "Reporters gave free agents rides to the Bengals offices, because no team official greeted them at the airport."
There were the years that Brown forced Bengals players to bring their own Gatorade or bottled water to facilities if they wanted such high-end amenities. Longtime Bengals columnist Paul Daugherty says the team even used hand towels for players for showers. The Bengals also forced players to stay at home instead of a hotel when playing in Cincinnati, which is the opposite of every other team in the NFL.
It's a credit to the front office's acumen that the Bengals have remained so competitive despite employing the league's smallest front office. The Athletic recently tallied a total of 8 persons in the Bengals personnel department when the average team has 21 (and the next lowest is 15).
Shemar Stewart is another silly example
While some aspects of the team's culture have improved, the latest incident with Stewart is the latest illustration of Brown's cheapness undermining its own chances.
The Bengals used their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Stewart, perhaps the draft's highest upside play as a prototypical pass rusher with all the right traits and hardly any production. Stewart's 4.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss in 37 career games is anemic for any draft pick, let alone someone taken so early. But Stewart's measurables are that appealing.
It's obvious, then, that Stewart needs all the reps he can get, except the Bengals are doing everything they can to keep him from taking the field. Stewart has been holding out of any team activities until he signs his rookie deal, and he's refusing to do that because, well, Mike Brown is being cheap again,.
Cincinnati’s unsigned first-round draft pick Shemar Stewart now has left mandatory minicamp, per source. Stewart had been attending team activities, but without a signed contract and with the Bengals asking for certain clauses, no longer. pic.twitter.com/qeo492Z6As
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 12, 2025
Here's what's happening. The Bengals want to include a contractual clause that if Stewart has an incident that would void guaranteed money in a given year, it will go on to void all guaranteed money for the rest of the deal. Last year, the Bengals signed first-round tackle Aquarius Mims to a deal without that clause and yet they're trying to wedge it into Stewart's deal.
The laughable nature of all of this is centered on just how cheap Brown is being given the massive size of the need. The Bengals' defense was horrible last season, and they've made significant changes on that side of the ball. They've changed coordinators and lost valuable players. And they're also playing chicken with Trey Hendrickson on a well-deserved contract (which is its own cheap angle).
The Bengals made a 1-2 investment in front-seven defenders in this year's draft with Stewart and linebacker Demetrius Knight to help form the foundation of a remade defense. But instead of getting the ultra-raw Stewart into OTAs and minicamp, Brown is insisting on new clauses for the sake of (maybe) saving a couple of million (max) down the road in some unforeseen scenario.
Given the Bengals' history of starting every season on a miserable note, it feels even more ridiculous to keep a new defense from coming together to try to course correct for a new season. For a team that only needs a mediocre unit on that side of the ball to somewhat balance out the offensive firepower of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins, the lack of vision here is silly.
As for the Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the AFC, they can only sit back and laugh at a contending organization so willing to shoot itself in the foot.