The Oakland Raiders are in the market for another Cincinnati Bengals stalwart. According to Pro Football Talk's Darin Gantt, veteran safety George Iloka is visiting the Raiders to gauge whether or not to join the team in free agency.
Raiders bringing George Iloka in for a visit https://t.co/AeG8POpX1g
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 20, 2019
On Tuesday, Oakland agreed to a one-year, $5 million deal with middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was released by the Bengals earlier this week after spending the first seven seasons of his career in Cincinnati. The controversial middle linebacker, who's been suspended to begin each of the last three seasons, called reuniting with Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, his first defensive coordinator with the Bengals, a “dream come true.”
“Once Pauly [Guenther] came here, I called my brother like, ‘man, my defensive coordinator left me. He went to Oakland,” Burfict said, per the team website. “He was like, ‘I told you you’re going to be there one day’, man, and a dream come true.”
Iloka, who entered the NFL with Burfict as a rookie in 2012, spent six seasons playing under Guenther – two when he was an assistant coach, and four when he was Cincinnati's defensive coordinator until he took the same job with the Raiders after the 2017 season.
The 28-year-old Ikola has been a stalwart in the Bengals' defensive backfield since his sophomore season when he first became a full-time starter. He started every game at strong safety in which he appeared from 2013 to 2017 before being released by Cincinnati during last year's training camp.
Iloka spent the 2018 season with the Minnesota Vikings, starting three games while appearing mostly on special teams en route to 16 tackles, the lowest mark since his rookie campaign.
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