Cincinnati's 2025 first-round pick has had one of the weirder starts to an NFL career you'll see, and it just got a lot darker. Stewart went down during an 11-on-11 drill on the very first day of Bengals training camp, and the video is nasty -- his leg bending at an angle knees are not supposed to bend at. He had to be carted off, unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Stewart being carted off, unable to put weight on the leg leaving the field.
This isn't some throwaway camp battle rep either. Stewart missed the entire first week of last year's camp in a contract standoff -- not over money, since rookie deals are slotted, but over 'conduct detrimental' language that would've let the Bengals claw back guarantees. He eventually signed a fully guaranteed 4-year deal worth just under $19 million, with a $10.4 million signing bonus, after a compromise that moved $500,000 of that bonus up. So he barely got a normal camp as a rookie, then dealt with an ankle injury for weeks 3-6 and a knee injury in November that landed him on injured reserve, limiting him to 5 games and 6 tackles all season.
Now, before he's even taken a real snap in camp for year 2, he's down again -- and this time it looks worse. Doctors who've watched the film aren't hedging much.
A sports doctor's read on the tape: significant hyperextension with ligament tears, and real worry it's season-ending.
Ligament tears with hyperextension is the kind of description that makes Bengals fans wince, because it tracks with what a lot of people feared watching the replay -- a knee bending sideways instead of forward. If it's confirmed as an ACL or multi-ligament situation, that's a lost 2026 season for a guy who still hasn't had a real chance to show what a first-round investment looks like on the field.
The Bengals haven't put out an official update on severity yet, which is standard-issue caution before an MRI, but the vibe from everyone watching is grim. For a front office that already burned a summer fighting over contract language with this kid, watching him go down on literally the second rep of camp is about as cruel an outcome as you could script.