Bengals snap counts: What’s going on with Shemar Stewart?

The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 2-1 with Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many deja-vu-inducing mistakes plagued the Bengals on the day, with the defense looking like its 2025 iteration, special teams looking lost and Joe Burrow committing a late turnover while trying to play hero ball. One

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What is the story about?

The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 2-1 with Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Many deja-vu-inducing mistakes plagued the Bengals on the day, with the defense looking like its 2025 iteration, special teams looking lost and Joe Burrow committing a late turnover while trying to play hero ball.

One of the more notable things coming out of the loss, though, was how the defense split up the snap counts.

Perhaps the biggest thing that sticks out from the snap counts: Shemar Stewart didn’t get one.

Now, there are some disclaimers here. Stewart grabbed a sack last week while playing just five snaps, but it was an easy one after others opened a path to the quarterback.

Stewart is also coming back from a knee injury, so load management is worth considering.

And Cedric Johnson, who had been super productive on limited work so far, only had 12 snaps.

Those things aside, this isn’t the sort of return the Bengals should be getting from a recent first-round pick. Cashius Howell, a second-round rookie, got 25 snaps (40 percent) in Pittsburgh.

It’s not time to sound the alarm about Stewart. Some games, formations and matchups require different looks. He’s coming back from injury. But at the same time, it would be unwise to ignore just how developmental of a prospect he really was and wonder why he can’t jump up to being, say, the fourth edge in the rotation right now.

Big issue? Only if it continues. The Bengals are deep at the edge and it’s a good thing. But there’s that return-on-investment thing to keep in the back of the mind with high-end draft picks like this, too, so it’s something to monitor.