Bengals Release DT Sheldon Rankins

He missed most of last season with an illness and was placed on the non-football illness list in December. 

Releasing Rankins frees up $9,617,647 in cap space and creates $2,000,000 in dead money, per OverTheCap. 

Rankins, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Saints back in 2016. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $12.8 million contract when the Saints picked up his fifth-year option worth $7.7 million for the 2020 season. 

New Orleans reworked Rankins’ contract before the start of the 2020 regular season, which allowed him to become a free agent in 2021. He later signed a two-year contract worth up to $17 million with the Jets. 

Rankins signed a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Texans when testing the market in 2023. He then signed a two-year deal with the Bengals last offseason.

In 2024, Rankins appeared in seven games for the Bengals and recorded 18 total tackles and one sack.