2023-24 Breakout Safety Signs with the Bengals
Following a breakout 2023-24 season, safety Geno Stone has officially signed a two-year 15-million-dollar deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. The three-year pro is coming off his best season yet, as he led all NFL safeties in interceptions, with seven. Despite being drafted in the seventh round, Stone has made it his mission to prove teams wrong, as he put together a career-best performance last season. Having entered free agency for the first time in his career, Stone was able to use his most recent gameday impact leverage in contract negotiations. Now, after signing with the Bengals, Stone will aim to continue proving the naysayers wrong this upcoming season in Cincinnati.
Stone, 24, was drafted in the seventh round by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2020 NFL Draft. Coming out of Iowa, Stone finished his collegiate career with 126 tackles, four forced fumbles, six interceptions, and seven passes broken up. Following his junior season, where he recorded 70 tackles, three forced fumbles, one sack, and one interception, Stone was named to the second-team All-Big Ten. Stone would decide to decline his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft in 2020. In his brief three-year NFL career with the Ravens, Stone has recorded 127 total tackles, 93 solo tackles, 34 assisted tackles, one forced fumble and eight interceptions.
Last season, in 17 games played, Stone would have his best season in the league, as he accumulated 68 total tackles, 44 solo tackles, 24 assisted tackles, and a career-high seven interceptions. Stone would begin the season having recorded six interceptions in the first nine games of the season, including a four-week stretch from Week Six to Nine, having tallied an interception. In Week Two victory against the Bengals, Stone would have his best game of the season, where he accumulated nine total tackles, seven solo tackles, two assists, and one interception. Stone will now head into the 2024-25 season with the Bengals looking to build on his breakout performance last season.
