Breaking: The Cincinnati Bengals sign Michigan’s most experienced player, and here’s why.
One of Michigan State football’s most prolific players under head coach Mark Dantonio has re-signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Bachie, a former captain of the Michigan State linebackers, re-signed with the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday. Bachie was an unrestricted free agent when he started the season.
After signing with the Bengals off the waiver wire after his debut campaign with the Philadelphia Eagles, the seasoned linebacker is set to begin his fifth season in the NFL, his fourth in Cincinnati. Thirty-five of Bachie’s 39 regular-season games were played with the Bengals. He started two games for the Bengals in his career. He has made 43 total tackles in his three seasons with the Bengals, mostly as a standout on special teams.
Under previous Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio, Bachie was among the most productive players at MSU. During his four years on the team, he started three of them as a middle linebacker for the Spartans. In MSU history, his 285 tackles rank 22nd.
In his 12 career games, Bachie had double-digit tackles four times, earning him the title of Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. He is sixth all-time in forced fumbles with five. With over 28 tackles for a loss throughout his tenure in East Lansing, he ranks 20th in MSU history.
He was one of just six players to be selected a team captain twice in Coach Dantonio’s time with the Spartans. He was chosen as the team captain for his final two seasons with the squad. Bachie was named to Rivals.com’s first team midseason All-America during his senior year. The Butkus Foundation awarded the Butkus Award to the greatest “impactful linebacker in the game,” and he was a semifinalist.
The Associated Press selected Bachie as a second-team midseason All-American during his senior year. In his final game as a Spartan, he had a career-high 14 tackles (13 solo), one of the greatest outings of his career and among the best of any Spartan.
In addition to numerous tackles for loss, Bachie had one sack, two pass breakups, one interception, and one quarterback hurry. With 50 production points versus Northwestern, he set a record for the most production points of any player to play under Dantonio.
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