When the Cincinnati Bengals signed former Cardinals linebacker Kevin Minter last week, it was not hard to connect the dots and see that Rey Maualuga’s time with the team was nearly up. On Saturday, the Bengals made that theory a reality, officially cutting ties with Maualuga. 

The team announced via its official Twitter account that he had been released. 

Maualuga was headed into the final year of a contract that was set to pay him approximately $3.7 million during the upcoming season, but none of that money was guaranteed. Releasing him instead tacks that total onto the Bengals’ approximately $22.9 million in cap room, per Spotrac. 

Maualuga was Cincinnati’s second-round pick back in 2009, and he started 104 of 128 possible games since that point. A consistent presence in the middle of the defense, he racked up 599 combined tackles, four sacks, seven interceptions, and six passes defensed during his time as a Bengal. His play steeply declined in 2016, and he wound up playing only 34 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. His previous career low was 50 percent, back in his rookie season. 

Still just 30 years old, there is likely a place for him elsewhere in the NFL as a sub package linebacker. The Bengals will move forward with Minter, Vontaze Burfict, Vincent Rey, and Nick Vigil as their primary options at the position.