Bengals Officially Place DT Geno Atkins On Season-Ending IR

The Cincinnati Bengals officially placed DT Geno Atkins on season-ending injured reserve with a torn ACL Monday.

• Bengals signed DL Christo Bilukidi to take his place on their active roster.

Atkins went down with the ACL injury during the Bengals loss to the Miami Dolphins last Thursday.

Atkins, 26, signed a huge six-year contract worth $56.423 million that includes $31 million guaranteed with the Bengals back in early September. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent following the season, and given that has quickly become one of the best interior defensive lineman in the league, it made sense for them get him taken care of while they had the available cap space.

Atkins should be able to rehab his injured knee time to play in the team’s 2014 season opener.