Burrow’s 2024: 4,918 PASS YDS (1st NFL), 43 TDs (1st), 70.6% COMP.

But this isn’t just paperwork. It’s a rookie with a 4.58-second 40-time and a newborn daughter rewriting the playbook on player advocacy.

Waiver wire tightrope: Rookie grit vs Burrow’s culture

Knight’s journey reads like a ‘Last Chance U’ spinoff: high-school QB, college LB, moonlighting as a delivery driver to support his family. At South Carolina, he sealed wins with game-clenching picks—like his dagger vs. Clemson—and at the Senior Bowl, he lit up ball carriers like a Netflix doc cliffhanger. But Cincy’s waiver language? That’s the real tackle he didn’t see coming. While teammates drilled at minicamp, Knight stood sidelines, absorbing mental reps like Jon Snow studying White Walker strategies. This is about making sure every rookie after him doesn’t have to choose between reps and risk.

Stewart’s standoff is equally charged. His college stats (4.5 sacks in 37 games) don’t scream “first round,” but his combine? Mythic. A 40-inch vertical, 10’11” broad jump—‘Spider-Man’ metrics that earned him a perfect 10.00 RAS score. The Bengals see him as Geno Atkins 2.0, but his camp sees a bonus structure stuck in 2024. The Bengals, fresh off a 9–8 season where Burrow’s heroics couldn’t mask a leaky defense, need both rookies’ firepower. Knight’s 82 tackles in his final college season? Luke Kuechly-esque instincts.

Fun Fact: Stewart’s 2023 scoop-and-score TD vs. Mississippi State? Faster than a Skyline Chili line on game day 💨

Stewart’s QB pressures at Texas A&M? Myles Garrett vibes. Yet here we are—a ‘Hard Knocks’ subplot where principle trumps practice. Cincy’s $26.7 M cap space could’ve been leverage, but both rookies are digging in. Burrow—set to star in Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ Season 2—knows drama. His 2024 MVP-caliber run (70.6% completion rate, 108.5 passer rating) was poetry, but Cincy’s five-game win streak to close the year felt like a eulogy for missed playoffs.

Now, with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins locked into $276 M extensions, the defense can’t afford rookie limbo. As Burrowmight say, “Confidence isn’t about knowing you’ll win—it’s knowing you’ve prepped for the fight.” For Knight and Stewart, that fight’s in the boardroom. For the Bengals? Time to decide if they’re building a contender or a cautionary tale.