The Cincinnati Bengals dodged a real bullet this week. Rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart avoided serious knee damage after a scary practice injury, and the team is breathing again.
Stewart went down at Wednesday’s practice with what looked like a devastating knee injury. He got carted off the field. Bengals fans immediately started bracing for the worst. Losing a rookie edge rusher of his caliber for the season would have been a nightmare start to training camp.
The follow-up news was significantly better. The Bengals announced that Stewart suffered a hyperextended knee with no ligament damage. Head coach Zac Taylor said Stewart would be out for several weeks, but he is expected to return well before the regular season ends.
That is about the best possible outcome for a player who was on the ground for an extended period after the injury happened. Anytime a player has to be carted off during camp, everyone assumes torn ACL until proven otherwise. Getting the all-clear on the ligaments was massive.
Stewart is a huge piece of Cincinnati’s defensive rebuild. The Bengals used their first-round pick on him because they needed exactly what he provides. A young, athletic edge rusher who can grow alongside Trey Hendrickson and give Cincinnati a legitimate pass rush duo for the next decade.
Hendrickson is 31 and coming off a season where he continued to produce at an elite level but showed some wear on the body. The Bengals do not want to lean on him for 15 sacks every year. Stewart was drafted to be the guy who takes some of that load off in his rookie season and eventually takes over as the No. 1 rusher.
Losing him for the year would have been a huge problem. The Bengals also lost some pass-rush help in free agency and cannot afford to be thin at the position. Missing a few weeks of camp is annoying, but it is much better than missing months of the regular season.
The bigger story around Stewart has been the mental side of things. He had a rocky pre-draft process where his agent and the Bengals had a public standoff over rookie contract structure. Stewart missed some of the initial training camp days because of those negotiations. That was not a great look for a first-round pick who needs to establish himself early.
Getting hurt right after finally getting on the field is the exact opposite of what he needed. But rehab time is not lost time. Stewart will still be around the coaching staff, still learning the playbook, still watching film. When he comes back, he will be able to hit the ground running.
The Bengals as a whole cannot afford another slow start. Cincinnati has been the biggest disappointment in the AFC over the last two seasons. Joe Burrow has been healthy, the offense has been productive on paper, and the team still cannot get out of its own way in the win column.
The defense has been the main problem. Coordinator changes, personnel changes, scheme changes, nothing has fixed the core issue. Stewart was supposed to help by generating pressure on his own and forcing offensive coordinators to plan for him.
Missing him for training camp is not ideal, but the defense will have the season to grow into itself. If Stewart is healthy by Week 4 or Week 5, the Bengals still have plenty of time to figure things out.
The bottom line for Cincinnati fans is simple. The scary knee injury turned out to be manageable. The season is not over before it started. Stewart will be back. Now the Bengals just need to prove they can win games.
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.
