It’s no secret that this year’s Cincinnati Bengals are one of the greatest stories in recent football history, rebounding from a 4-11-1 record a season ago to playing for a Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 13.
While the team’s success certainly doesn’t fall on anyone’s shoulders individually, it’s inarguable that without starting linebacker Germaine Pratt, the Bengals would be worse for wear.
Pratt has been an essential cog in Cincinnati’s resurgent defensive machine, serving as the team’s primary run stopper and consistently clogging up the middle. In the midst of such a successful year for the Bengals defense, Pratt has quietly had the best regular season of his career, tallying up career highs with one interception, two forced fumbles and 91 combined tackles. His success didn’t stop in the regular season either, with Pratt continuing to impress as the playoff race inches towards its finish line.
Likely the biggest moment of Pratt’s season, and arguably of his professional career, was the game-securing red-zone interception against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Bengals held a seven-point lead with mere seconds remaining on the clock, but Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had his team in a great position to tie it up as time was expiring. A desperate attempt at finding the endzone went horribly wrong for Carr and company, as Pratt stepped up in front of the quarterback’s intended target to make a play that will live on in the heads of Bengals fans for a long time.
Pratt is more accustomed to making game-deciding plays than most would give him credit for, having recorded multiple crucial turnovers throughout his playing career. The 72nd overall pick in 2019 has made quite the impression during his professional days, but to get here, Pratt has had to prove himself time and time again.
In his four years at NC State, Pratt solidified himself as a big-time player for the Pack while totaling 235 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, four interceptions and three forced fumbles. As a member of the talent-loaded 2017 Wolfpack squad, Pratt really found his groove. With 69 total tackles and two game-deciding interceptions, one of which he delivered all the way to the house, Pratt had made his mark on NC State football history.
With a few of the big names surrounding him on that 2017 roster leaving after the season, Pratt had the opportunity to step up as the leader of the 2018 squad, and step up he did. The 2018 season was Pratt’s best year in a red-and-white uniform, posting collegiate career highs with 104 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six sacks and two forced fumbles. His total tackles mark were good enough for the fourth-highest in the ACC and his two forced fumbles landed him inside the top 10 for the stat within the conference.
The craziest part of Pratt’s football journey has to be that he wasn’t always a linebacker, which is hard to consider when it’s the position that got him into the league. Pratt spent two years with the Pack lining up at safety, where he did see some success, but it was clear that pass coverage wasn’t his strongest attribute. Coming into the league as a relatively inexperienced linebacker, even Pratt knew there was still a lot of work left to be done.
“I’m still learning the position from coach, and I think I’m going to keep on improving my game,” said Pratt in a post-draft interview in 2019. “One year as a starter [at NC State], and I had a great season. I think I’m still going to be on the rise and be ready to improve myself at the next level.”
Improving at the next level is exactly what he’s done, seeing statistical improvements across the board in every year that he’s been in the league. Pratt’s keen eye for the field and desire to compete at the highest level have managed to keep him in a prime position to benefit this Bengals defense, which has seen statistical improvements itself over the course of Pratt’s time there.
Pratt and his fellow teammate, Pack Pro and college roommate B.J. Hill are now faced with the single most important game of their football careers. Putting themselves in a position to compete for a Super Bowl is already a massive achievement that certainly won’t be diminished no matter what the result of Sunday’s game is, but to hoist the Lombardi Trophy is a feeling like no other in the sport.
The Pack Pro has come a long way from Raleigh to get to this point, and it’ll take even more to elevate him over a talent-loaded Los Angeles Rams squad that was built to take home this year’s championship. But if there’s one thing Pratt has shown us before, he’s not going to shy away from the pressure.
