Bengals center Ted Karras is rookie edge rusher Shemar Stewart’s teammate.
But Karras is also an NFLPA vice president, putting him in a unique position to give perspective on the contract dispute between the Bengals and their top 2025 draftee.
“It’s not the best-case scenario of how the spring could have gone for our first-round pick,” Karras said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of TheAthletic.com. “But there is [a] pretty serious business aspect to our profession. He has taken counsel from his camp.”
The Bengals, of course, also have a contract dispute going with edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who did not attend mandatory minicamp this week.
“The main thing I want to say is I don’t think — to either of our defensive ends — there is any harboring of resentment in our locker room,” Karras said. “I really hope both camps can figure this out because we have a really good team. We’ve had a super-productive spring. You just don’t want this to carry over into summer.”
While quarterback Joe Burrow noted that the situation with Hendrickson is a distraction, Karras didn’t want to use that label for Stewart.
“I don’t think it’s been a distraction,” Karras said. “I think it has more been a distraction for the fans, mostly. I know Twitter is hot right now and Cincy Twitter doesn’t mess around … I think how it has played out has been probably unfortunate for both sides.”
We’ll see if things change for the Bengals and either edge rusher as the calendar gets closer to the start of training camp.
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