AFC Contenders Can't Sleep on Bengals originally appeared on Athlon Sports. It’s been a frustrating offseason for Cincinnati Bengals fans wishing that their front office could put one foot in front of the other until they found themselves at a contract extension for edge rusher Trey Hendrickson (or common sense for rookie Shemar Stewart).

At 28 years old, Burrow has put up impressive numbers throughout his five-year NFL career. He has thrown for 19,001 yards, 140 touchdowns, and 46 interceptions, while completing 68.6 percent of his passes in 69 games. Those numbers have come despite two seasons with major injury issues.

Shemar Stewart's holdout from the Cincinnati Bengals due to some of the language they want to include in his rookie contract is reportedly a fairly common practice used by other teams.

The Cincinnati Bengals remain in a contract impasse with their top defender, Trey Hendrickson. NFL sources open up on his market value

With OTA's and mandatory minicamp now concluded, and the Bengals going their separate ways for about five weeks prior to the start of preseason training camp, plenty was said about the supposed forward steps by Cincinnati's defense under first-year coordinator Al Golden.

“One of the biggest stories of the 2025 regular season was the Bengals finding ways to lose games despite continuous heroic efforts from quarterback Joe Burrow,” Dalton Wasserman wrote. “Burrow ranked second in the NFL in PFF passing grade, but the team’s lack of balance around him on both sides of the ball prevented them from making the playoffs.

Without question, Wilson, the leader of the linebacker room, has emerged as a cornerstone of the Bengals' defense over the last five seasons. Although he missed the last five games last season, he was on pace to smash his previous career-high in tackles (135) with 104 through 11 games.