Bengals make a tough decision with Sheldon Rankins, but their next move with him will be much easier
At long last, the Cincinnati Bengals reached a decision with defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins. The Bengals have placed Rankins, who's been out with a viral illness since Week 11, on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list. He will not be able to play in the regular season finale this Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as […]
At long last, the Cincinnati Bengals reached a decision with defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.
The Bengals have placed Rankins, who's been out with a viral illness since Week 11, on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list. He will not be able to play in the regular season finale this Saturday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the first three weeks of the postseason should Cincinnati make it that far.
The first reporting of Rankins' illness came about hours before Cincinnati's "Sunday Night Football" game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11. Rankins travelled out to Los Angeles with the team and popped up on the injury report prior to kickoff.
Rankins did not practice nor play for five consecutive game weeks and wasn't seen on the rehab field until a month after his first missed game. He will finish the season with just seven games played as a hamstring injury took him out of three games earlier in the year.
So why did the Bengals wait this long to shut down Rankins for the year? Per BengalsTalk.com's Jay Morrison, the club was exercising patience in case the 30-year old defensive lineman would be able to play, not knowing when that would be. Placing Rankins on the NFI list now opens up a roster spot for the regular season finale and, potentially, a postseason run.
The Bengals made Rankins their highest-paid free agent signing this offseason when they inked him to a two-year, $24.5 million contract that paid him $14 million this year alone. Two separate injury-related absences have resulted in the team not getting their desired return on investment, which is why another decision is likely to be reached with Rankins this upcoming offseason.
Sheldon Rankins has all but certainly played his last snap for the Bengals
Rankins last played on November 7 on "Thursday Night Football" against the Baltimore Ravens. He played 41 snaps that night and failed to record a single pressure as a pass rusher. For the entire season, Rankins rushed the passer 163 times and registered just four pressures including his lone sack, which he got in Week 7 against the Cleveland Browns.
The Bengals never got what they wanted out of him this season and with his age 31 season coming up, the team will likely release him in a few months time. Rankins is owed a $1.5 million roster bonus on March 16, 2025, the fifth day of the 2025 League Year. His release will come before then if it indeed happens.
Releasing Rankins will save $9.5 million in salary cap space for the offseason. The only other likely cap casualty that will free up more space is edge defender Sam Hubbard as his release would create $9.6 million. The Bengals would also pocket $10.5 million in cash with Rankins' release, which matters a lot more when it comes to being active in free agency.
The Bengals built a two-year contender thanks to the help of free agency. Signings like DJ Reader, Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, and Ted Karras elevated the team to a place they hadn't been in decades. The other side of the coin looks like what happened with Rankins this season; a promising talent that had success with other clubs just couldn't replicate his past with another new team.
Speaking of Reader, the Bengals let him leave for the Detroit Lions the same day they signed Rankins. They assessed the risk with the former and determined the smarter play would be to give the latter a deal instead. Reader has played 13 games as of this posting with plenty more production than Rankins.
The Bengals got it wrong, even if it's not entirely Rankins' fault. No one expected him to miss the most important part of the year with an illness. He's the perfect example of how it's not always in the player's control.
That's the risk the Bengals accepted, and they'll likely be taking another risk when they try to fill the hole Rankins couldn't.
Rebuilding the defensive line from the ground up will be one of Cincinnati's top priorities when free agency begins. Rankins shouldn't be expected to be here when it happens.
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