(Yesterday, 03:15 PM)ERIC1 Wrote: I hope they trade hendrickson and get some high draft picks...aside from his sacks that usually occur over 4 or 5 games...he disappears..spends the entire game doing a hughschool  wrestling match with the opposing teams offensive tackle

I think that ship sailed after round 1 of the most recent draft.

(Yesterday, 02:09 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Weird they waited this long.
Like if they knew they were gonna, they could have just designated him a post-June 1st cut and let him go back last month.

The Bengals have been known to drag their feet when cutting a player.  Pratt didn't exactly  hide his displeasure here. Kind of makes me think it's the Bengals being petty and letting him sit while all the other free agents get signed and chew up most of the money that's available.  I wouldn't put anything past Mike Brown

(Yesterday, 03:11 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Really? 

We brought in Burks from Philly in FA, who started the SB and was PFF's #1 rated LB in the post-season. We then drafted a plug & play 26 year old LB in Rd 2, and another LB in Rd 4. Plus Wilson is a lock starter. 

Pratt then demanded a trade and refused to show up. He had a roughly $8 mil cap hit and was likely LB#4 (at best). 

He insisted on being a 3 down linebacker but he just isn't anymore. He is still good vs the run, and makes some big plays now & then (INT/fumbles), but he also sells out a lot trying to make them, missing tackles and letting RBs getting extra yards. Top 10 in missed tackles and tackles. 

He was awesome in the SB run, and damn good the next year, but not so much the last two. And his treatment of Ossai after the KC game still ticks me off. Seems he got into tweeting more than playing and trying to make big plays to get paid instead of just being solid and letting the game come. 

While I could have seen going with Wilson, Burks, & Pratt as our main LBs this year, once Knight & Carter were drafted, and he requested a trade & held out, the writing was on the wall. Plus, it again sounded like hexwas going to be disruptive if he did not play every down (again). 

Thanks for 6 years, Playoff P. But it is time to move on. 

I just hope that $6 mil we save vs the cap gets pilut into the team (Trey, IOL, S/SB, etc) rather than Mikey's pocket.

Nice post Ike. I sometimes forget about Burks, but he actually might be the starter next to Logan early this season. Really like Knight, Barrett 
and what I saw from Shaka Heyward last year as well. Don't understand people talking up Pratt like he was a bright spot on the Defense last 
year. I watched this guy get completely burnt last season I don't know how many times. It was ugly.

Pratt was decent back when Golden was the LB coach and the moment Golden was hired as DC Pratt asked to be traded. Tells me all I need to
know.

(Yesterday, 03:24 PM)jj22 Wrote: I think you guys have forgot our big games while few from the last two seasons. But if you watch even the highlights on YouTube you’ll see Pratt all over the place. But this is what happens when the defense has struggled. Out goes the baby with the bath water.

The true issue is fans not realizing how hard it is to get to a sb without the maybe not hall of fame players but the ones who can shine in prime time and know how to win big games. It’s not like we don’t see the examples every season in the Ravens, Bills, San Fran, Tampas, GB’s of the league.

What is with you and " prime time games"...every single game in the nfl regular season is prime time..pratt was bad the last few seasons...he wanted out..he got his wish

(11 hours ago)BenZoo2 Wrote: I think that ship sailed after round 1 of the most recent draft.

I dont care who plays ..as long as they play with energy and consistancy...the most impressive thing to me this off season were the coaching changes..I had never heard al golden speak...and after listening to the man... i think the team got a super excellent addition to the coaching staff.. if Burrow stays healthy its going to be a fun year

Newest post from Pratt’s IG - a picture with only he and Trey Hendrickson in the frame. pic.twitter.com/gsnbGMKFOt

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) June 9, 2025

I will never forget you, Germaine Pratt. One of the happiest moments of my life. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/fUTEGpVRL3

— Jacob Tissot (@jacobtissot) June 9, 2025

  

With Germaine Pratt officially departing, all four 2024 Bengals captains with defensive ties are now no longer in Cincinnati.

Pratt (TBD), Hubbard (retired), Bell (unsigned), Davis-Gaither (Cardinals). Major shift. pic.twitter.com/UeBt13APYo

— Charlie Clifford (@char_cliff) June 9, 2025

I appreciate what Pratt gave to this team and he made a ton of plays for us. He also was didn't have the athleticism to be a 3 down player and it was exploited at times during  the past two seasons.

(11 hours ago)2MinutesHate Wrote: The Bengals have been known to drag their feet when cutting a player.  Pratt didn't exactly  hide his displeasure here. Kind of makes me think it's the Bengals being petty and letting him sit while all the other free agents get signed and chew up most of the money that's available.  I wouldn't put anything past Mike Brown

Yea but if that's the case, it still hampers/hampered the Bengals to not have that freed up sooner and could have pursued other FAs earlier.
The only thing I can think of is the FO feels the roster is championship contender-worthy without Pratt today and the only things needed to improve the team were new coaches, a new true run-stuffing 1T, a new B/C tier starting RG, and some draft picks (which I would disagree with).

If we look at the new faces for the starters, the Bengals really are going to have just 3-5:
RG - Patrick
LG - Fairchild
NT - Slaton
SLB - Knight
Burks/Carter in 3-LB looks

Potentially just 2-3 if it ends up actually Volson and Ford winning the OG spots.
Will that be enough to confidently think the Bengals can get back to AFCCG/SB?

(Yesterday, 02:51 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: We need to get back to the basics on Defense. That starts with tackling. Big plays will come and just because Pratt made plays back in the 
day and got a bad pass thrown right to him late last season doesn't make him the game changer he once was. Addition by subtraction is 
what the Pratt cut is. Knight takes great angles and wraps up, the opposite of Pratt.

He also brings some thump when he tackles something we have been missing.

(11 hours ago)ERIC1 Wrote: I dont care who plays ..as long as they play with energy and consistancy...the most impressive thing to me this off season were the coaching changes..I had never heard  al golden speak...and after listening to the man... i think the team got a super excellent addition to the coaching staff.. if Burrow stays healthy its going to be a fun year

Yeah, I think this no name defense is going to surprise a lot of folks and be pretty good.

To those saying the team dragged their feet, or waited too long, etc.; they waited until OTAs to know if Burk and/or the kids they drafted could do the job. This is no different than how they released Levi Jones (and others). Pratt was under contract, so they retained his rights. Once they were content that they would not be losing out by moving on from him, they let him go.

(11 hours ago)ERIC1 Wrote: What is with you and " prime time games"...every single game in the nfl regular season is prime time..pratt was bad the last few seasons...he wanted out..he got his wish

I don't want to be one of those great 1pm teams who can't get past the divisional/championshiop round.... We were the only AFC team that could and if you look back at our 2021 and 2022 defenses we didn't have all probowlers or hall of fame players. We had playmakers who knew how to win big games (we were what? 10-6 regular season in 2021). 

I think you guys are significantly underestimating the need for big game players. 

And how?

We were flush with probowlers, hall of famers, and talented players on offense and defense during the Palmer era. What did that get us? 

Need I remind everyone of the Dalton era and the great players of those teams  (at 1pm). 

Having a Hall of Fame QB isn't enough. Ask the Bills, ask the Ravens, ask any team since the 2000's. NE didn't have the best talent in the league. They had players who could win big games. KC isn't the most talented team in the league.... They have players who can step up with the lights shine brightest. 

In 2021 and 2022 we had these big game players at every level. We need that again if we want to get past the Divisional round or AFCC. We are down to 1 (maybe 2 if you want to count Burk who was only worth 2 years 5 million and less that 1 million guaranteed)... 

We are dangerously close to being a perennial Divisional round out.... If that.  The "stars" and HOF "talent" we have now couldn't even get us to the playoffs.... So we are in some trouble with experience on the roster.

(11 hours ago)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Nice post Ike. I sometimes forget about Burks, but he actually might be the starter next to Logan early this season. Really like Knight, Barrett 
and what I saw from Shaka Heyward last year as well. Don't understand people talking up Pratt like he was a bright spot on the Defense last 
year. I watched this guy get completely burnt last season I don't know how many times. It was ugly.

Pratt was decent back when Golden was the LB coach and the moment Golden was hired as DC Pratt asked to be traded. Tells me all I need to
know.

We both forgot about Giles-Harris. He is more of a ST/Bachie replacement than a frontline guy, but still technically an addition at LB. 

If you exclude the guys we re-signed or extended, we brought in 11 new guys (not counting UDFA's). 5 FA's & 6 picks. 

4 LBs: Burks, Giles-Harris, Knight, Carter
3 OGs: Patrick, Fairchild, Rivers (OG/OT) 
2 RBs: Perine, Brooks 
1 NT/DT: Slaton
1 DE: Stewart

I think Pratt is a prime example to think of the good times and wish him well. He was a part of some of the biggest moments in this era of Bengals football. Linebacker is a position that helps to be young and the writing was on the wall. Hope the best for him in football and after.

Having said my piece on Pratt. Now comes the question of the savings? Do we save 8 million against the cap? Are we gonna do anything with it? Is anybody gonna be okay if we just pocket it and claim we're gonna use it next year?

(Yesterday, 02:29 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: For those who say the Bengals are mean, this early prior to TC cut of Pratt is for he can find a new home easier.

Me personally, I would have waited to get through TC to insure the rookies are ready right now or our LB core is healthy heading into the season.

Nice of Bengals to do it now.

It does suck though that Bengals essentially made yet another need in the offseason when they already had so many needs in OL and DL.
I thought for sure when they added Burks, it was to replace/upgrade ADG, and they only needed to get a LB4/5, which could have been done in Rd 5 or later.
But instead they threw a 2nd and 4th toward LB, making some scratch our heads why.
Hope the additions of Patrick and Slaton end up being better than many expect.

I'd like to see us pick up a vet. As most know, Logan is not an Ironman (Pratt was). Eric Kendricks knows what it takes to be great; I'd like to see him brought in to mentor our new guys,

No surprise. We knew this was coming when the new LB coach didn't mention him. The interesting part is the LB room as a whole with Golden having already said he plans to run 3 LB more. We have Burks, Knight, Logan, Carter, Heyward, Njongmeta and Giles-Harris? I think we're going to keep 5 or 6 LB this season instead of the 4 under Lou.

I hate that we couldn't trade him , not because we didn't get compensation, but because now he can go to someone inside the division.

Not getting your Contract renewed and hitting FA is one thing. Getting cut is another thing.