Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo are reporting that the Bengals are releasing starting S George Iloka on Sunday.
This comes as a surprise, given that Iloka is just two years removed from signing a big-money deal with the Bengals and has started every game for the past two years.
The safety market has been slow-moving up to this point, but it’s possible that Iloka could have a good amount of interest over the next few days.
Bengals second-round pick Jessie Bates figures to be in position to win the starting free safety job now that Cincinnati has moved on from Iloka.
Iloka, 28, is a former fifth-round pick of the Bengals back in 2012. He was in the third year of his five-year, $30 million contract that includes $5 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $5.2 million for the 2018 season.
According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Iloka will free up $5.6 million of available cap space while creating $600,000 in dead money.
In 2017, Iloka appeared in all 16 games for the Bengals and recorded 79 tackles, one interception and five pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 40 safety out of 76 qualifying players.
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