'They clearly were a little bit spooked' – Insider details the player the Cincinnati Bengals passed on in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft
The Cincinnati Bengals took a bit of a risk in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by selecting Texas A&M Aggies pass rusher Shemar Stewart with the No. 17 overall selection. Stewart, a former five-star recruit, is an extremely talented player with plenty of upside. He certainly has the potential to develop into […]
The Cincinnati Bengals took a bit of a risk in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft by selecting Texas A&M Aggies pass rusher Shemar Stewart with the No. 17 overall selection.
Stewart, a former five-star recruit, is an extremely talented player with plenty of upside. He certainly has the potential to develop into a perennial Pro Bowler, but he's a bit unproven. Stewart totaled just 4.5 sacks during his three seasons at Texas A&M.
The Bengals actually passed on selecting a more proven SEC pass rusher in the first round.
According to VolQuest's Brent Hubbs, the Bengals were interested in Tennessee Vols pass rusher James Pearce, but they may have been "spooked" by some of the off-the-field concerns surrounding the All-SEC edge rusher.
"The Bengals were an interesting decision that they made," explained Hubbs during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone's Ramon, Kayla, and Will. "They were going pass rusher. And they had James in for a visit. They clearly were a little bit spooked. I believed they were spooked a little bit by some of the off-the-field things. So they went with a very unproven, on the field, player in the (Shemar) Stewart kid out of Texas A&M.
"Remember this about the Bengals — they took a risk last year in the third round when they took Jermaine Burton. Burton's a guy who had off-the-field concerns and that type of thing. I don't know how well that's gone for the Bengals. Now, he wasn't going to play a lot anyway with that receiver room, but I don't know that everything has gone great there in talking to some Bengals people. And there was a thought there that the Burton experience this past year might create some hesitancy in them taking a risk guy like James Pearce."
Burton had a rocky rookie season with the Bengals, which included some disturbing off-the-field issues, that's left his future with the franchise in question.
As for Pearce, there are some folks who have questioned whether the off-the-field concerns about him are legitimate. Pearce was a quiet player at Tennessee who kept his head down and stayed out of the limelight. Despite his status as a premier pass rusher, there was never any NIL or transfer drama surrounding him. Sources close to the situation have described Pearce as a guy who just wants to play football.
But after the Burton experience last year, it's understandable why the Bengals were hesitant to pull the trigger on selecting Pearce at No. 17 overall.
