Former Michigan State Spartan Re-Signs With Cincinnati Bengals

One of the most productive players of Michigan State football's Coach Mark Dantonio era has re-signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Former Michigan State linebacker and team captain Joe Bachie has re-signed with the Cincinnati Bengals after entering this season as an unrestricted free agent, the Bengals announced on Monday.

The veteran linebacker is entering his fifth season in the league, which will be his fourth in Cincinnati after the Bengals signed him from the waiver wire following his rookie season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Bachie has played in 39 regular-season games, 35 of which were with the Bengals. He has two career starts with the Bengals. In his three seasons with the Bengals, he has recorded 43 total tackles, as he has starred mainly on special teams. 

Bachie was one of the most productive players at MSU under former Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio. He played for the Spartans for four years, three of which were as their starting middle linebacker. His 285 tackles rank 22nd in MSU history.

Bachie won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week four times and had 12 career games where he registered double-digit tackles. His five forced fumbles rank sixth all-time. He is 20th in MSU history in tackles for a loss, registering nearly 28 of them during his time in East Lansing. 

He was voted a team captain his last two seasons with the Spartans and was one of only six players to be named a team captain twice during Coach Dantonio’s tenure with the Spartans. During his senior season, Bachie earned Rivals.com’s first-team midseason All-America honors. He was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, given by the Butkus Foundation to the most “impactful linebacker in the game.”

During his senior season, the Associated Press named Bachie a second-team midseason All-American. He registered one of the best games of his career and one of the best games of any Spartan his senior year against Northwestern, recording 14 tackles (13 solo), which was a career-high.

Bachie registered one sack, two pass breakups, one interception, one quarterback hurry and multiple tackles for loss. He recorded the most production points of any player to ever play under Dantonio with 50 production points against Northwestern.

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