Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart is inactive for Sunday's game against the Ravens, despite being healthy.

Stewart, 22, has one sack in three games this season. Cincinnati selected Stewart in the first round (17th overall) in the 2025 NFL Draft. He's only play 17 snaps on defense this season.

Why Is He Inactive?

A big part of it is health. Stewart missed all of training camp with a knee injury, which opened the door to Cedric Johnson to emerge as Cincinnati's fourth defensive end behind Boye Mafe, Myles Murphy and rookie Cashius Howell.

All three of those guys are healthy on Sunday. In fact, the Bengals' entire roster is healthy. Their injury report was clean entering Sunday's game.

The Bengals weren't going to deactivate Johnson, who has eight tackles, two sacks and two quarterback hits in five games. They weren't going to make Kris Jenkins Jr. inactive.

This was simply a numbers game for Cincinnati. In fact, they really like what they've seen from Stewart in practice over the past few weeks.

Trade Coming?

Could Stewart be traded?

Sources insist the decision to make Stewart inactive has nothing to do with the Nov. 10 trade deadline. It also doesn't help the narrative.

In reality, the Bengals spent the 17th overall pick on Stewart 18 months ago and he can't crack their defensive line rotation.

The trade speculation will continue, even if the Bengals are encouraged by Stewart's performance in practice.

One source made it clear that they think Stewart will help them on defense this season. Another stressed how valuable training camp would've been for the second-year defensive end. He's trying to make up ground.

It's also a sign that Johnson and Jenkins have developed as the Bengals hoped they would. Cincinnati has nine active defensive linemen for Sunday's game: Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Kris Jenkins, TJ Slaton, BJ Hill, Myles Murphy, Boye Mafe, Cashius Howell, and Cedric Johnson.

Will History Repeat Itself?

This decision reminds me of Tyler Boyd being a healthy inactive in year two. Boyd responded the right way. How will Stewart respond?

Stewart has talent and needs to make an impact this season. How he responds to this move is going to be a big part of his story and future in Cincinnati.

Other Inactives

Veteran safety Kyle Dugger is back and will play after missng a few games with a quad injury. That means Russ Yeast is inactive. Rookie center Connor Lew, defensive tackle Landon Robinson and offensive tackle Myles Hinton are also inactive.