Cincinnati — It was evident why Sheldon Rankins was seated inside Paycor Stadium for a press conference on Monday morning as the highlight reel began to play in his head.
To be clear, the defensive tackle did not mention his prior performances when he was officially signed to a two-year contract by the Cincinnati Bengals. Rankins, though, was content to relive a few of his six career sacks against the Bengals after being mentioned.
He listed them one by one, speaking as though they had just occurred. Cincinnati knew all of those things when it signed the 30-year-old to sack quarterbacks for other teams rather than its own.
Who Dey has shown me kindness,” Rankins remarked on Monday. “They’ve shown me a lot of kindness, whether it was intended or not. They are suddenly being nice to me. Thank you very much.
The kindness he spoke of was a deal that included $8 million in guaranteed money and had an official worth of $24.5 million, according to Roster Management System. It was the seventh-highest average yearly compensation for an interior defensive lineman since March 11th, according to OverTheCap.com.
However, that cash should not be interpreted as giving.
The Bengals increased their interior pass rush by paying a premium. Rankins was a defensive tackle who rated eighth in pass rush win rate. The addition of Trey Hendrickson, a former teammate of Rankins in New Orleans who finished the 2017 season with 17.5 sacks—the second-most in the NFL—to the defensive line strengthens it.
Cincinnati traded one of the finest gap-stuffing run stoppers in the game for someone who has demonstrated the ability to put more pressure on quarterbacks by signing Rankins, who finished the previous season with six sacks, and allowing respected defensive lineman DJ Reader to walk in free agency.
Cincinnati is well aware of the chaos that Rankins brings about, of course.
In a Week 10 victory over the Bengals, Rankins recorded a career-high three sacks while playing for the Houston Texans. Joe Burrow, the quarterback for Cincinnati, was healthy for just that one game. Burrow sustained a wrist injury that ended his season four days after that game.
Rankins was preoccupied with thinking about the lost chances, even though everyone else was congratulating him on his big game. He believed that he ought to have six sacks.
In fact, when he initially spoke with Bengals coach Zac Taylor, that was exactly what was on his mind. The main query for Rankins? Why the Bengals never modified their pass-defense strategy to accommodate him.
