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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — Once the highlight reel started spinning in Sheldon Rankins‘ mind, it was obvious why he was sitting inside Paycor Stadium for a news conference on Monday morning.
To be clear, the defensive tackle didn’t initially reference his previous exploits against the Cincinnati Bengals, who officially signed him to a two-year deal. But once referenced, Rankins was happy to re-live some of his six career sacks against the Bengals.
He rattled off one after the other, as if they recently happened. All of those were fresh in Cincinnati’s mind, too, when the team signed the 30-year-old to sack other teams’ quarterbacks instead of its own.
“‘Who Dey’ has been kind to me,” Rankins said on Monday. “Whether they meant it or not, they’ve been really kind to me. They’re kind to me now. I appreciate it.”
The kindness he referenced was a contract officially valued at $24.5 million, according to Roster Management System, including $8 million in guaranteed money. According to OverTheCap.com, it was the seventh-highest average annual salary for an interior defensive lineman since free agency started on March 11.
But that money shouldn’t be mistaken for charity.
The Bengals paid a premium to boost its interior pass rush. Rankins ranked seventh in pass rush win rate as a defensive tackle. The move boosts a defensive line that includes edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, Rankins’ former teammate in New Orleans who had 17.5 sacks last season, the second-most in the NFL.
By signing Rankins, who had six sacks last season, and letting respected defensive tackle DJ Reader leave in free agency, Cincinnati traded one of the league’s best gap-stuffing run stoppers for someone who has proven to get more pressure on quarterbacks.
Of course, Cincinnati is very aware of the havoc Rankins causes.
As a member of the Houston Texans, Rankins had a career-high three sacks in a Week 10 win over the Bengals. That was the last game Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow was healthy. Four days after that game, Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury.
While everyone congratulated Rankins on his big game, he was too busy stewing over the missed opportunities. He felt he should have had six sacks.
In fact, that was the first thing on his mind when he first spoke with Bengals coach Zac Taylor. Rankins’ biggest question? Why the Bengals never altered their pass protection to account for him.
“I said, ‘Why the f— did you not slide?'” Rankins recalled, subtly raising a question about Cincinnati’s inability to make that adjustment at the time. “And we just kind of laughed about it. He was like, ‘You know what, man, we probably should have.'”
Rankins also acknowledged that wasn’t the first time he took down a Bengals quarterback. In 2018, while with the New Orleans Saints, he sacked Andy Dalton in a blowout win. As a member of the New York Jets in 2021, Rankins had the game-clinching sack, and he sacked Burrow again in a 2022 loss.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Rankins has the most sacks per game against Burrow of any player who has faced him multiple times.
“Unfortunately, we played against him a number of times over the years, which leads us to today,” coach Taylor said Monday as part of his opening statement. “It’s a guy that we’ve always pinpointed would be a great fit for us, be able to help us to really win a lot of games.”
Rankins confirmed this isn’t the first time the Bengals pursued him. In 2021, he was in discussions to sign with Cincinnati as a free agent before accepting a two-year deal with the Jets worth $11 million. This time around, the Bengals upped their offer. He will earn $14 million in cash in 2024 alone, according to Roster Management System.
The ninth-year player out of Louisville said most assumed he wouldn’t leave Houston after what he did last season. He also assumed that Reader was going to come back to Cincinnati.
But things worked out a bit differently. And after years of watching him chase their quarterbacks, Cincinnati was the one in pursuit to make sure Rankins was on its sideline.
“[The Bengals] were persistent,” he said. “You know what, let’s give this a shot.
“And here we are.”
