Cincinnati Bengals Free Agent Bust Opens Up About Health Struggles Last Season

Every fan of the Cincinnati Bengals fan remembers defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins' one-year stint with the team last season for largely the wrong reasons.

Rankins missed a combined 10 games last season, missing three games from Weeks 3-5 with a hamstring injury, and then came down with viral meningitis during week eleven which caused him to miss the rest of the season.

The Bengals made the decision to release Rankins before free agency this offseason. He ultimately re-signed with the Houston Texans, whom he spent the 2023 season with.

Now months removed from his Bengals departure, Rankins has shed more light on his tumultuous 2024 season.

"That was some health stuff last year. I won't too much deep dive into it," Rankins said. "The biggest one that kind of took me out of playing, I ended up having a Shingles outbreak and viral meningitis at the same time, and that kind of knocked me out for awhile. A lot of people don't know what kind of illness or what kind of thing could knock someone out for this long. I was probably laying horizontal in my house for a month and a half before I could really even sit up."

Rankins had one sack in seven games for the Bengals. He signed a two-year, $26 million contract with the Bengals on March 18, 2024.

"I started the season last year probably around 300 pounds, by the end of dealing with all that amongst other things I was probably down to like 255 [pounds], lost all my strength, lost all the weight, power," Rankins said. "Even by the time I played my last game November 7th against Baltimore, I was low 270s, high 260s. Wasn't myself last year and by the grace of God I'm able to still come out here and can compete, and do things at a high level. I worked my a** off this offseason to ensure that not only physically I can come out here and play, but mentally that I was past a lot of the stuff health wise, internally that I was able to check off my list and get back to feeling great, cause I know when I feel great I can be a difference maker."

Rankins had 12 sacks in 47 games from 2021-23 before signing with the Bengals prior to the 2024 campaign. Check out the video of him discussing his health issues below: