Ryan McFadden
HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders have signed former Cincinnati Bengals inside linebacker Germaine Pratt to a one-year, $4.25 million deal, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Cincinnati had released Pratt on Tuesday after he spent all six of his NFL seasons with the organization.
Pratt played a key role in the Bengals winning back-to-back AFC North titles, as well as making AFC championship game appearances in 2021 and ’22. In 96 career games (88 starts), he totaled 616 tackles, 23 pass breakups, seven forced fumbles and seven interceptions.
In 2024, Pratt recorded a career-best 143 tackles, two interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries.
One of the longest-tenured players on the Bengals roster, the team saved $5.9 million in cap space by releasing him.
For the Raiders, inside linebacker and cornerback have been two areas of concern, making the move to sign Pratt not surprising.
After losing Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo in free agency, the Raiders have spent the offseason trying to remodel their inside linebacker room. They previously signed veterans Devin White, Elandon Roberts and Jaylon Smith and also selected former University of Minnesota linebacker Cody Lindenberg in the seventh round of April’s NFL draft.
During organized team activity practices and mandatory minicamp, Roberts and White have been the first-team linebackers. Las Vegas is hoping that White’s versatility and Super Bowl experience could be useful for the defense.
Over the last two seasons, however, White hasn’t been the same player that was a Pro Bowler in 2021. After his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023, White signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles but was later released after being inactive for the first four games of the 2024 campaign. Eventually, White was picked up by the Houston Texans and appeared in seven games, totaling 19 tackles.
“[White’s] experience is a positive,” Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “I would say that his flexibility for the position; he’s played all over the field before, he’s been productive, both in the run [and] pass game, in different ways.”
In addition, the overall depth at inside linebacker is questionable, opening the door for Pratt to solidify a starting role in Las Vegas.
