Former Saints DB Eli Apple to Sign With Bengals
A former starter in the defensive backfield for the New Orleans Saints has apparently found himself a new NFL home.
Eli Apple, who played for the Saints for parts of the 2018-2019 season, agreed to terms with the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday.
The deal is reportedly for one-year.
The 25-year old Apple played in two games for the Carolina Panthers during the 2020 NFL season, compiling four tackles, including three solo stops.
Coincidentally enough, due to ankle and foot injuries that kept him on the sidelines for most of the first six weeks of the season, all of Apple's tackles came against New Orleans, in a 27-24 Saints victory over the Panthers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
After a stellar collegiate career at Ohio St., the New York Giants selected Apple with the 10th-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
After a rookie campaign in which he accumulated 49 tackles and one interception, Apple was suspended by the Giants in 2017, following a confrontation with an assistant coach.
The 6-foot-1, 202-pound Apple still finished 2017 with 49 combined tackles 8 passes defended.
Through five games in 2018, Apple compiled 22 tackles, to go along with 5 passes defended, before being traded to the Saints for two draft choices.
In 10 games with New Orleans in 2018, all as a starter, Apple accumulated 52 tackles and two interceptions, before appearing in 15 games with the Saints last season, all as a starter, racking up 58 tackles.
The Saints declined the fifth-year option on Apple's contract at the end of the 2019 season, making him a free agent.
In parts of five seasons in the NFL, Apple has appeared in 57 games, including 48 as a starter, accumulating 237 tackles and three interceptions.