Germaine Pratt continues to show notable improvement for Bengals

Germaine Pratt is on the rise for the Bengals.

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The Cincinnati Bengals are starting to see the return on rookie linebacker Germaine Pratt.

The third-round rookie was thrown to the wolves this year and the growing pains were initially apparent. They still are in some ways, but Bengals coaches like the growth they’ve seen as the season comes to a close.

Here’s what head coach Zac Taylor told the media:

“Continued improvement. And there needs to be continued improvement. I feel like I sit here and say it every week, but with our young players, there is the good and the bad every week that they need to improve on. We see a lot of the qualities that we thought we were going to get when we took him. It’s good that he’s been getting to play a ton of snaps in the last half of the season. He has to continue to correct the mistakes. There’s a lot to grow on, but there are certainly a lot of positives that we’re excited about.”

The numbers — especially since the team cut Preston Brown — have started to ascend:

In addition to this, Pratt just had his best tackling game as a pro, registering seven solo and 10 total against New England while playing a carer-high 75 percent of the snaps.

Pratt still has some problems in coverage (16 completions on 19 targets). But for the former safety, that area figures to come around in time.

For now, the Bengals will take this rate of return. Pratt is a big part of the plan at a unit in need of overhaul, so these next two weeks are particularly important.

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