Stewart carted off on Day One, and Cincinnati's defensive rebuild is already on hold

Shemar Stewart went down during the first 11-on-11 drill of training camp Wednesday — left leg, cart, crutches, brace. He's listed as questionable. For a defensive end who missed nine games as a rookie last season, that image is a bad one to carry into the summer.

The timing stings because Stewart was supposed to be part of the answer to a specific, documented problem. The 2025 Bengals finished 6-11 not because the offense failed them — Burrow, Chase, and Higgins put up numbers that should have produced a winning team — but because the defense gave it all back. The front office responded this offseason by acquiring Dexter Lawrence, one of the better interior tackles in the league, and adding secondary help. Stewart was meant to complement that work on the edge. Now B.J. Hill is already out, Kris Jenkins Jr. is questionable, and the player Cincinnati drafted in the first round to grow into a cornerstone is on crutches before the pads are even broken in.

What's left on the defensive line is thin. The depth chart behind Stewart at defensive end has no one with meaningful snaps from last season. Boye Mafe drew some attention Wednesday by comparing this defense to Seattle's championship-era unit, which is a nice thing to say in late July. The work to back that up just got harder.