Germaine Pratt, author of some of the biggest defensive plays in franchise history, has been released as the Bengals revamp their linebackers room with two draft picks.
The move comes on the first day of the first mandatory minicamp practice, where rookie Demetrius Knight Jr. is expected to line up next to Logan Wilson in the starting lineup they've been using in the voluntary workouts of the last month.
Pratt, a third-round choice out of North Carolina State in head coach Zac Taylor’s first NFL Draft of 2019, started the last eight games of his rookie year and then started 80 more. He leaves as their longest tenured defensive player.
His biggest play, and maybe the Bengals' biggest defensive play ever, came in the 2021 AFC Wild Card to preserve a 26-19 victory. Backed up against the Bengals' end zone in the January gloom, Pratt picked off Raiders quarterback Derek Carr with 17 seconds left on what amounted to the last snap of the game as Paycor Stadium celebrated its first playoff victory with cheers and tears.
"I'm very appreciative of what Germaine has done for our team over the last six years," Taylor said in a news release. "He has been a part of plays and wins that will be remembered forever by Bengals fans. I will always pull for Germaine and I wish him the best moving forward."
That play may have earned him the nickname "Playoff P," but Pratt had a string of game-turning plays late in some huge regular-season wins at Paycor.
He helped set the tone for the 2021 season in the opener when he forced Vikings running back Dalvin Cook's fumble at the Bengals 38 with 1:48 left in overtime and recovered it to set up Bengals kicker Evan McPherson’s field goal at the gun.
The next season, with the 7-4 Bengals trailing the Chiefs, 24-20, and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce ripping off a 19-yard gain early in the fourth quarter, Pratt ended the play by forcing and recovering a fumble that set up the winning drive on the way to another playoff appearance.
In the 2024 Paycor finale, the Bengals stayed in the playoff hunt when Pratt's interception of Broncos quarterback Bo Nix with 2:30 left in regulation set up the go-ahead drive.
The move leaves tight end Drew Sample as the longest-tenured Bengal heading into his seventh season. He was taken the round before Pratt in that first Taylor draft of '19.
The Bengals went back to Pratt's native Carolinas to find his replacement. They selected South Carolina's Knight in the second round and Clemson's Barrett Carter in the fourth. Wilson, starting his sixth year, is now the longest tenured Bengal on defense.
The Bengals had three of the ten linebackers with the most tackles in the last four postseasons. Wilson is third with 62, Pratt eighth with 49, and Oren Burks 10th with 38. The Bengals added Burks from the defending champion Eagles in free agency back in March after he started the last two Super Bowls.
