Shemar Stewart signed his contract on July 26 last year and they never stopped talking about it until then. I didn’t hear a PEEP about any of these 2026 draft picks that hadn’t signed yet, including the first overall pick that just signed three days ago
Burrow was pressured at the 3rd lowest rate last season among qualifying NFL QBs, per PFF.
NGS has him at 32% (14th-lowest) vs. league average of 33.9%.
Bengals OL won’t be the issue in 2026, nor was it in 2025.
It is my understanding they're offering the same language in this clause as the majority of first-round contracts and, for reference, have offered the exact language of the pick before (Walter Nolen) and after (Grey Zabel). It's different than that of Murphy and Mims the last two years and the Bengals generally structure contracts differently than most teams with guarantees, which matters. But the language being proposed for this specific clause is common across the NFL.