Jim Owczarski

jowczarski@enquirer.com

At his home in Miami, George Iloka was between exercises with his trainer when he walked past a television and saw his name scrolling across the bottom attached to many, many millions of dollars.

He checked his phone, with messages upon messages waiting for him.

“I hadn’t even looked over anything or hear anything,” he said. “I looked over at ESPN and was like ‘oh.’”

The numbers he saw, $30 million over five years with the Cincinnati Bengals weren’t close being officially done, at least

not until he finished his workout nearly a half hour later.

Since then?

“I’m kind of relieved,” Iloka said. “I think I’ve had a smile on my face for probably the last three hours. Like, I couldn’t stop smiling. You know how when you’re a little kid and you do something wrong or you’re kind of like covering up something and your parents walked in? I’ve just been smiling the last three hours. I’m just happy.”

He will receive $19 million of that in the first three years – including $7.6 this year in base salary and bonuses – putting him on par, financially, with some of the top strong safeties in the NFL.

Bengals free agent tracker

“I knew going in the money would already put me in that category based off of what I’ve done, based off what I bring to the game, so it wasn’t really about where I go would that money be recognized – I knew wherever I chose it would,” he said. “For me, I had other little factors involved: team, city, coaches, things like that.”

On Monday, The Enquirer learned that the Detroit Lions, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings expressed serious interest in Iloka once the legal tampering period opened on Monday, but once the market was set the Bengals made sure to lock up a home grown anchor in the secondary.

“I always said if it was close I’d come back to the Bengals because I like the city,” Iloka said. “I do like the organization, they’re the ones that gave me a shot in the fifth round four years ago. I know the system. I know the guys in locker room.”

And that was one of the reasons Iloka was a focus for the Bengals front office before free agency began at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

“He understands all our adjustments,” Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther told the local media at the NFL Scouting Combine in late February. “He’s real, real smart. He s been there since we put it in and he sits right in the front row like I’m sitting with you guys and he asks all the questions and he’s good and he’s accountable and all those things.”

If keeping to his daily routine in Miami was any indication, Iloka said he was able to detach himself from the process this offseason and let the business run it’s course.

“I did a better job this time of just relaxing and letting my agent do his job and let whatever happen, happen and when it comes down to Wednesday I would make some decisions,” Iloka said. “I didn’t get too emotionally involved this time into the decision, I did that last time and it’s not good. You don’t want to get emotional about any decision, business or personal, you know what I mean?

“I think that helped me. I think I made a good choice doing it that way this time and not having any hard feelings about any situations or things like that.”

Now, going forward, he wants to take care of the “unfinished business” of getting the Bengals over the playoff hump. The 6-foot, 4-inch, 225-pound safety became a full time starter in his second year in 2013 and became entrenched alongside veteran Reggie Nelson the last three seasons. Now, it is likely he will be paired alongside first-time starter Shawn Williams in a revamped secondary.

“I want to elevate my game, elevate it for myself, elevate it for my team and for my defense and give us a better shot to win,” he said. “I want to do that because that’s just the person I am. That doesn’t really change. I feel like it kind of makes you want to work harder, if anything. Because it’s like, all right, now you’ve got it, now you’ve got to show why you deserve it and things like that.

“My approach doesn’t change. I just gotta make a more conscious effort to do everything right, all the little things right, because I think that’s what’s expected of me by offering me the contract. That’s what I feel they expect of me, personally.”