What Is Going On With the Cincinnati Bengals and Linebacker Germaine Pratt?

CINCINNATI – Germaine Pratt was among the handful of Cincinnati Bengals veterans who were not at Tuesday’s practice as the team moved into Phase 2 of the offseason program.

But unlike the other absences, Pratt’s was not due to an injury or a desire for a new contract – or prioritizing a swanky party.

Pratt’s absence was a mystery.

Not the reason for it, but rather the definition of it.

It’s a near certainty Pratt isn’t going to be on the team this fall, so why is he still on the team in May?

The veteran linebacker, who will turn 29 in two weeks, is coming off the worst season of his career and entering the final year of a contract that would pay him $5.3 million in 2025 and count $8.2 million against the salary cap.

That’s a bad combination.

If/when the Bengals cut Pratt, they will absorb $2.3 million dead cap charge for a net saving of $5.9 million.

When the Bengals allowed Pratt to explore the possibility of a trade, it wasn’t because getting out of Cincinnati was the linebacker’s top priority.

It was because the Bengals figured they might as well see if they can set something for a player no longer in their plans.

It’s similar to the Joe Mixon situation last year, when the team informed the running back they were cutting him, leading his agent to find a trade partner in the Houston Texans, who stepped in an offered a seventh-round pick.

Something always trumps nothing.

There is no scenario where Pratt plays for the Bengals in 2025 on his current contract – a three-year, $20.5 million deal he signed prior to the start of 2023.

And the Bengals don’t seem interested in asking Pratt to take a pay cut to stick around.

He’s been a likely cut candidate since the season ended – despite his humorous objection to the suggestion – and the Bengals using second- and fourth-round picks on linebackers Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter, respectively, upgrades the “likely” qualifier to “definite.”

Of course, the rest of the league knows that as well, which is why no team is making the Bengals a trade offer.

They’ll be content to wait until the Bengals release them.

The only reason Pratt is still around is the Bengals also have the luxury of patience.

Maybe another team has a linebacker go down with an injury this summer and sweeten the compensation it is willing to offer in a trade.

But even a team thrust into a dire situation like that probably would ask the Bengals to pick a portion of Pratt’s contract.

Pratt’s 18 missed tackles last season were tied for the third most in the league and ranked second among linebackers.

His previous high was nine missed tackles, which came in 2020 in his first full season as a starter.

Missed tackles, of course, are a volume stat, and Pratt’s missed tackle percentage of 11.2 in 2024 was not nearly as damning. That number ranked 27th in the league among players with at least 68 tackles (four per team game played), and third among Cincinnati defenders behind safety Geno Stone (15.6) and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (11.5).

But again, it was a career-worst percentage, topping the 9.8 he posted in 2020.

Sometimes players athleticism erodes slowly. More often than not it’s more of a cliff than a slope. And that’s what has happened to Pratt, who was a key piece of the defense that went to back-to-back AFC Championship Games and Super Bowl LVI.

He was 25 then.

The Bengals don't release player GPS speeds, but the naked eye is all you need to see Pratt is a step or two slower.

And it's that loss of speed that leads to the bad angles and poor technique, which shows up in the missed tackle statistics.

Pratt is still a turnover machine. He had two forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and two interceptions in 2024, all of which tied his career highs.

His previous best stat line for turnovers came in 2021 when he had two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one interception.

And his football IQ and instincts haven’t waned.

So there should be plenty of interest in signing him once the Bengals make his release official. He could join former teammate Joe Bachie in Indianapolis with former defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

But the salary-to-potential ratio is out of whack.

The Bengals are willing to wait for a trade partner to emerge.

But they are not willing to gamble on Pratt playing a role for them in 2025.