Steelers Should Sign Veteran DT After Bengals Release

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the market for an interior defensive lineman this offseason, and a potential new target of theirs just became available.

The Cincinnati Bengals released defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins on Friday, freeing up $9.6 million in cap space as they look to extend Tee Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson.

Rankins was entering the final season of his contract after agreeing to a two-year pact worth $24.5 million last March. He appeared in just seven games for Cincinnati in 2024 due to an illness and a hamstring injury, posting 18 total tackles and a career-low one sack when on the field.

Updates on his current condition have been sparse after not suiting up beyond Week 10 and finishing the year on the reserve/non-football illness list. Should Rankins work his way back in time for the 2025 campaign, however, he could land in Pittsburgh and continue his tour around the AFC North.

Though the cap will increase quite drastically next year, the Steelers remain likely to recoup $7 million by cutting Larry Ogunjobi.

Doing so would open a starting spot alongside Cameron Heyward and Keeanu Benton on the team's line, which Rankins could fill as a three-tech.

The 30-year-old has set himself apart as a tremendous pass rusher since breaking into the league as a first-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2016.

Rankins played in 63 contests for them through 2020, posting 157 pressures, 116 tackles and 17.5 sacks over that timeframe, before joining the New York Jets on a two-year deal worth $11 million in March 2021.

He would go on to log 49 pressures and six quarterback takedowns across 31 games with the team. Rankins then signed a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Houston Texans for the 2023 campaign and put up six sacks to go with 42 pressures.

It all comes down to his health, but Rankins is an ideal fit for the Steelers given his upside, prior production and the fact that he should be relatively inexpensive when compared to the other premier options at the position.

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