It's been a quiet, work-filled offseason for Bengals' edge rusher Shemar Stewart. He's a massive factor for the team's pending defensive turnaround this fall as he tries to fill a big void left behind by new Baltimore Raven, Trey Hendrickson.The Athletic's Nick Baumgardner named Stewart among the 2025 first-rounders who need a big 2026 season. Stewart was one of the lowest graded defensive players on Pro Football Focus last season after missing most of the offseason program due to contract issues and going through his first football season ever with multiple injuries.Among Bengals defenders to play at least 200 snaps, only Barrett Carter, Demetrius Knight Jr., and Oren Burks graded worse than Stewart's 41.2 mark."I'm not going to sit here and say it was an easy year for me,"Stewart said to reporters earlier this month. "I definitely had my fair share of losses throughout the year. You definitely get beat up, but you've got to come back stronger."Lately, he's kept his head down and worked hard all offseason to set himself up for the best bounce back possible.Important Season AheadCincinnati Bengals defensive end Shemar Stewart (97) walks for the injury tent in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 2 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. The Bengals came back from a halftime deficit to win 31-27. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images"Stewart is another first-rounder who went down with an injury midyear, but it really wasn’t a surprise that he had a limited impact as a rookie," Baumgardner wrote. "Stewart was a one-year starter in college who was raw and light on production. Athletically, he remains a mutant, at 6-5, 280, with nearly 35-inch arms and the ability to move like a 240-pounder."As expected, Stewart was up and down last season, especially against the run. However, even after tearing a PCL in Week 9, Stewart was able to get on the field for the last two weeks of the season — he picked up a combined five pressures. Every rep he gets is extremely important, so Stewart's entering his second camp healthy is a great sign. If his health cooperates, there’s a good chance this pick will look a lot better by the end of 2026. We have to see some major growth here, though, as Stewart was still an inconsistent technician as a rookie."The 17th overall pick in the 2025 draft tallied 11 tackles, including one sack and one pass breakup during his first season.He never played fewer than 12 games at Texas A&M across his three seasons there, so there isn't much reason to think he will be an injury red flag consistently. If all his measurables can get sharpened more this offseason through all his hard off-field work, then Stewart could easily be the best Bengals pass rusher in 2026.The first thing that would come to mind is just waves of rushers. I don’t want to speak for Trey (Brown), but I think this time last year we were drafting starters everywhere, and now we’re drafting guys that can be mentored and integrated, andnot just day one ‘have to be the guy’ at every position. All these guys are going to have a significant impact on our team, but it goes back to what I said earlier, we’re going to be able to play in waves with that front eight. We have 10 guys right now that we feel can go in the game and impact it.”There are no roadblocks in Stewart's way to reaching that ceiling as he dials into a potentially big role for Cincinnati this fall.Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You DirectlyFor more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more! We're a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the 65,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow