A shift in defensive tackles somewhat occurred Monday afternoon. Clinton McDonald was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for cornerback Kelly Jennings; a response to the team's logjam at defensive tackle along with a concerning predisposition with rehabilitating injuries at cornerback. Tank Johnson was recently released and decided to spent the year away from the NFL with his family. The team reached an injury settlement with Lolomana Mikaele (who was number 98 by the way) on Monday, waiving him.
This brings Cincinnati's projected defensive tackle lineup to Geno Atkins, Domata Peko and Pat Sims with Frostee Rucker and Jonathan Fanene rotating inside, mostly during passing situations.
And that's not a bad three-man rotation. According to Scout, Inc's rankings, the team's top three defensive tackles rank inside the top-44 in the NFL; Domata Peko (30th), Pat Sims (39th) and Geno Atkins (44th). Tank Johnson, if he stayed with the Bengals, would have given the team four defensive tackles inside the top-44 (Johnson ranked 43rd).
Fanene and Rucker classify as defensive ends and didn't factor into grades at defensive tackle.