The first move that the Cincinnati Bengals made in the legal tampering part of free agency was re-signing linebacker Germaine Pratt. The Bengals and Pratt agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth $21 million.
Pratt spoke to the media on Tuesday after making the deal official and said that the reason he came back to Cincinnati was that he wanted to win.
Bengals LB Germaine Pratt: "I don't want to go to a team that's losing and they don't have a quarterback.... Why would I leave? I want to win."
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) March 14, 2023
The Bengals have one of the top five quarterbacks in the league with Joe Burrow and that played a major part in his decision to return to the team that drafted him. Surely teams like the Falcons or Panthers (where Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell signed respectively) might have been interested in Pratt but they don't have a good quarterback situation like Cincinnati does.
Germaine Pratt said he knew that if Joe Burrow is going to be around here for a lot of years, then he needed to be here
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) March 14, 2023
Germaine Pratt wants to win and that's why he's back with the Bengals.
Pratt said that he never considered leaving the team. While I'd argue that most guys aren't going to say "Yeah, I wanted to leave!", Pratt's reasoning for wanting to stick around makes perfect sense. He's part of a good defense and with a team that has one of the best signal-callers. Some guys might value making more money but Pratt wants to play in meaningful games.
Germaine Pratt says he never really thought of leaving Bengals. pic.twitter.com/hmkTaKug8g
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) March 14, 2023
Bengals fans are thrilled to have Pratt back and the good news is that his contract doesn't make extending Logan Wilson an impossible task. There's a real chance that the team is able to keep both guys long-term and that would continue to make this defense a threat down the road.
It's good to have you back, Playoff P!