A cautionary tale for Shemar Stewart ... Roquan Smith

Bengals rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart bolted the team's mandatory mini-camp Thursday because of a contract dispute, reportedly unhappy with language in the contract that could void guaranteed money.

If that impasse sounds familiar to Bears fans, it should. In 2018, rookie linebacker Roquan Smith held out of training camp for 26 days (missing 16 practices) because of a similar dispute over language in the contract that could void his guaranteed money.

Smith's agency, CAA Football, wanted to nullify a provision that would have allowed the Bears to cancel guaranteed money in the contract if Smith were suspended by the NFL for a helmet-to-helmet infraction. The Bears eventually agreed but CAA reportedly insisted on applying that to any suspension, including non-football play misconduct. And the holdout dragged into the preseason.

Eventually the two sides compromised and Smith signed a four-year, $18 million contract (with $11 million in guaranteed money) on Aug. 14, after Smith missed the entire Bourbonnais portion of training camp.

Smith eventually caught up, but you can argue the holdout had an impact on the Bears' season. He, almost predictably, suffered a hamstring injury during his fourth practice and missed more time, including the final two preseason games. He didn't have full participation in practice until Week 1 and played just eight snaps in the regular-season opener against the Packers, who rallied from a 20-0 deficit with 21 points in the fourth quarter to win, 24-23.

The Bears finished 12-4 and were the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, playing the Eagles at Soldier Field in a wild-card game. But at 13-3, they would have been the No. 1 seed and had a first-round bye before playing at home.

There's no way of knowing, of course, whether Smith's holdout impacted that season. But connecting the dots isn't that convoluted. It's a fair debate.

The Bengals took Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart with the 17th overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Be that as it may, rookie contract holdouts don't often end well. As was the case with Smith, the sticking point is often something that will never come into play (in 1999, quarterback Cade McNown got off to a slow start and arguably stunted his career after a rookie holdout over "voidable years" that never came into play — he was such a dud he was cut after his second season and never played in the NFL again.)

In fact, in both the case of Smith and McNown, the sticking point was more a tool for the agency to recruit future clients than something that would benefit the present client. No telling if the players get that part of it, but when Smith dropped CAA Football and negotiated his second contract (with the Bears and ultimately the Ravens) on his own.

Joey Bosa's 31-day holdout in 2016 was a reference point when Bears rookie Roquan Smith ended his holdout in 2018 — Bosa suffered a hamstring injury in his first practice and missed four games. Smith suffered a hamstring injury in his fourth practice. He still started in Week 1, but only played eight snaps in a 24-23 loss to the Packers.

Let the record show that Roquan Smith had an impressive rookie season, eventually signed a five-year, $100 million contract that made him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history and is having a great career — a first-team All-Pro in each of his three seasons with the Ravens.

Shemar Stewart's situation isn't quite the same as Smith's. The Bengals reportedly are insisting on language not included in other rookie deals. But even if Stewart is in the right, he's in a tough spot. With the rookie wage scale, it's usually prudent for rookies to get into the fold as soon as possible to give themselves the best chance for the quickest, smoothest start in the NFL — and wait until the second contract to play hardball. Even Roquan might agree with that.