Shemar Stewart Injury Update: Bengals Dodge Bullet as Rookie DE’s Knee Diagnosis Revealed
The Cincinnati Bengals just got lucky, and that is the biggest story of their training camp so far.
Second-year defensive end Shemar Stewart is expected to miss several weeks with a hyperextended left knee, according to head coach Zac Taylor. The good news is that Stewart is not believed to have any ligament damage, which means what looked like a season-altering injury on Wednesday is actually a temporary setback.
Stewart’s left foot planted awkwardly on the second rep of team drills, and his knee hyperextended. Athletic trainers rushed to check on him, and he eventually left the field on a cart. Every Bengals fan who watched it happen assumed the worst. This is a team that has been through it with injuries.
Instead, the MRI came back clean of any structural damage. Stewart will miss “several weeks” per Taylor, but he should be available at some point during the regular season.
That is a massive relief. Stewart was a first-round pick in 2025 and is one of the players the Bengals are counting on to help fix a pass rush that struggled at times last season. Cincinnati’s front office has invested heavily in the defensive line, and losing Stewart for the year would have been a real blow to those plans.
The reaction to the injury on Wednesday tells you how nervous Bengals fans have been about this defensive line. Everyone assumed torn ACL, torn MCL, or torn everything. The relief when the diagnosis came back as a hyperextension was palpable.
Stewart’s rookie year was solid but not spectacular. He was in the rotation, got some snaps, and flashed the traits that made him a first-round pick. The expectation for his second season was a big jump in production. That expectation still applies, just delayed by a few weeks.
The bigger picture for the Bengals defense is what this all means for their pass rush plans. Trey Hendrickson is still a top-tier edge rusher. The interior of the line has depth. But losing any young pass rusher for training camp is going to slow down the growth process, and the Bengals are counting on that development.
Taylor said Stewart will be back “relatively quickly.” That is coach-speak for “we hope so, but we cannot really say.” Realistically, if Stewart misses the first four to six weeks of the regular season, the Bengals will consider this outcome a win. Anything sooner would be a bonus.
What is worth watching is how the Bengals distribute pass-rush reps in Stewart’s absence. This is a real opportunity for some of the depth pieces on the roster to earn a bigger role for the season. Undrafted free agents and second-year players who might have been fifth in the rotation could jump into the top four with Stewart out.
Cincinnati is not going to trade for anyone right now. This is a “next man up” situation, and Taylor’s staff has to figure out how to keep the defense functional while Stewart rehabs.
For a franchise that has watched its Super Bowl window close a little each year, dodging a major injury this early in camp is a really great outcome. Now they just need to keep everyone else healthy through the summer.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
