Sheldon Rankins' time with the Cincinnati Bengals has officially come to an end, as the team announced that it has released the veteran defensive tackle after just one season.
Cincinnati signed Rankins to a two-year, $24.5 million dollar deal last offseason. The move to part ways with him doesn't come as a surprise, as Rankins' first season in Cincinnati was extremely underwhelming.
Bengals release veteran defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins after one season
Availability was the main issue for Rankins in 2024, as he missed more games than he played in. Rankins was sidelined for three games earlier in the season with a hamstring injury, and then he missed the final seven games of the campaign with an illness.
Ultimately, Rankins was placed on the on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list, which effectively ended his season. For those keeping count at home, that's 10 games that Rankins missed in his first season in Cincinnati, compared to just seven games that he played in. That's not an ideal ratio, especially for a guy making some serious money.
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When Rankins, 30, was out on the field, he wasn't particularly productive, as he recorded just 10 total tackles and one sack during the season. The single sack represented a career low, while the total tackle number was the second-lowest of his career.
Giving Rankins' lack of production and availability, Cincinnati parting ways with him felt like a foregone conclusion, especially since they saved $9.6 million against the salary cap by doing so.
Cincinnati will need all of the extra cap space that it can get this offseason in order to facilitate new deals for guys like Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Trey Hendrickson and potentially even Mike Gesicki. Generating nearly $10 million in space by moving on from Rankins should certainly help in that regard.
While Rankins was the team's first cut of the offseason, he certainly won't be the last. Cincinnati will look to clear up additional cap space, and parting ways with guys like Sam Hubbard and Alex Cappa could help them do just that.