The Bengals have released DT Sheldon Rankins.
This move was widely expected. It will carry $2M in dead money, but save the team over $9.6M in cap space.
Rankins was one of the higher profile signings for the Bengals last off season. After a good year in Houston, the hope was that rotating him with BJ Hill at 3T would bring improvement to the pass rush. It didn’t turn out this way, however.
Things got off to a rocky start, with Rankins suffering a hamstring injury early in the year. When he was healthy later on, his play was ineffective, and the pass rush as a whole, outside of Trey Hendrickson, struggled.
It got worse for Rankins, who came down with an illness midway through the season. Not many details were given by the team, as this situation dragged on, but he ended up missing the final 7 games of the season. He only played in 7 games for the Bengals, totaling just 1 sack over that span.
In other news, the Bengals re-signed LS Cal Adomitis to a 1 year deal.
He had been an RFA, making this deal relatively easy for the Bengals to negotiate.
Adomitis has been with the team for the last few seasons, taking over for Clark Harris early in 2022, after the veteran suffered a season ending injury.
This past season, there were a few blips in the field goal process, with the missed kick against the Ravens in OT coming to mind. But over the span of his duration in Cincy, he has been pretty solid, and has also proven to be someone who can get down the field in punt coverage.
After Ryan Rehkow was recently re-signed, it seems as though the Bengals special teams unit will remain the same, heading into the 2025 season.
