Bengals Beat: Dalton Risner ‘I’m Entitled To Nothing… I’m a Competitor’, Jalen Rivers Gets A Look At Left Guard

CINCINNATI — There isn’t a player in the Bengals locker room more grateful than Dalton Risner.

The 30-year-old veteran guard landed in Cincinnati on Wednesday after signing a one-year contract with the Bengals to compete for the starting right guard position.

“It was great. I just got here six hours ago,” Risner said after his first practice on Thursday. “(I) woke up at 2 a.m. I got here and signed the contract, put my cleats on, put on the stripes.”

Between the smile on his face and the enthusiasm for the city, it’s apparent that Risner was relieved that a very difficult offseason for him professionally was in the past.

“I’ve been here eight hours. I came on a visit, but I can tell you in that short amount of time the way this locker room is, and conversations with Trey (Hendrickson) and the whole offensive line room it’s just somewhere I want to be,” Risner said. “Whether it’s the blue-collar feel, the family feel, the organization feels tight-knit, loyal, and it’s an organization that wins football games, it’s just somewhere you want to be. I’m really grateful to be here. I have a quote, ‘When you’re grateful for what you have, you have everything you need.’ I’m really grateful to be here, I don’t need a thing more.”

Joe Burrow was happy to see another qualified veteran in the locker room, capable of protecting him along the line of scrimmage.

“Yeah, he came up and introduced himself,” Risner said. “I kind of was like trying to learn technique in practice and he came up and said hi and introduced himself as he did other guys who just got here today. You can see what type of leader he is and the way he carries himself on this team, which is pretty special. It’s the same way for Ted Karras and Orlando Brown, I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. There are a lot of really good talented guys on this football team, but they’re also humble and those are guys I want to surround myself with.”

The key at this point is joining a group that includes potential competitors for playing time like projected Week 1 starter at right guard Lucas Patrick, along with Cody Ford, and rookies Jalen Rivers and Dylan Fairchild. With Risner now on board, the Bengals can shift Rivers over to left guard as depth behind Dylan Fairchild and that’s what they did Thursday, as Rivers got some reps in with the first-team while Fairchild observed with Risner.

Five spots for two positions, and the Bengals now feel that all five could step in and do a solid job in both run and pass protection. As for the mass of 20 reporters and cameras around his locker Thursday, he could do without that.

“You’ve got to come in and be yourself. You can’t have 13 cameras around your locker after every practice, that’s not the way to do it,” Risner told me. “I’m going to come in and be myself and earn respect. I’m entitled to nothing. My job is to come in and, if you need me to carry water, I don’t care what it is. I’m going to come in and earn the respect of the guys in the room, earn the respect of the coaches on this team and put my head down and go to work and see where things end up. That’s all you can do and just grateful that you’re here.”

Could he really be ready to play in Week 1?

“That’s why come in,” Risner said. “I’m a competitor. I came here to help the Cincinnati Bengals in whatever role that is. If I’m active Week 1, let’s go. This isn’t an off weekend for me. I didn’t go through four or five weeks of training camp. I’ve been grinding, so I take a lot of pride in the shape I’m in, but let’s be honest, these guys just got done with a five-week grind and OTAs, so they deserve a couple of days off. I’ll be in my playbook getting right, so I can help the team prepare for the Cleveland Browns.”

Risner has been on the open market for the entirety of the offseason and is incredibly happy that’s in the past. But it’s something he’s learned to deal with over the last two deals, one with Minnesota before the 2023 season and this one, as well.

“(It’s been) miserable. I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody,” Risner said. “(It’s) really unfortunate how it’s ended up like that the last couple years for me, and you never want to get labeled as a guy that wants to stay on the market, and I want to make it very clear that it’s not my intention ever. It’s just the business side of things that get tough so let’s hope I can kick some serious butt with the Cincinnati Bengals and I don’t even have to hit that thing called free agency in March.”

While Risner has certainly been on Cincinnati’s radar all offseason, talks didn’t really heat up until the last month.

“Just a lot of back and forth, a lot of soul searching, thinking about the future, and at the end of the day, if you have interest from other teams, you want to weigh out your options but you kind of know what the best fit is, and I’ve wanted to be a Bengal the last couple of weeks,” Risner said. “I’m not going to act like it’s been a four- or five-month process, but the last two or three weeks, ever since my visit and communications and meeting coach (Zac) Taylor and coach (Justin) Rascati and coach (Scott) Peters, it was just somewhere I wanted to be. I told him earlier to the point of the fit here and why I feel it’s a fit, it’s just somewhere I want to be. It’s a great opportunity as well, great offensive line room, and I don’t just say all that to sound media friendly. It’s just somewhere I wanted to be, and a lot of back and forth the last week and conversations with your agent, conversations with the Bengals and eventually coming to something you agree on.

“There were offers out there, but you weigh your options and you compare contracts. We could get in the weeds about it all, but when you kind of realize, for example, another team might be where the Bengals are at, the Cincinnati Bengals is where I want to be. But, you’ve always got to do your due diligence. It’s the NFL. You’re not going to be in the NFL forever, so you want to always weigh your options and see what type of contracts are being offered to you and your agent and make the decision from there. But, as soon as I kind of felt like that’s where things were at, I was like, ‘Man, let’s go to Cincinnati.'”

How much did the Bengals have to sell him on Cincinnati?

“They didn’t have to sell me very much at all,” he said. “That’s not really the NFL, either. These guys are going to show you what they’re made of, they’re going to show you the way they build the organization. From the way I went to a workout and they had the owner there and the GM, all these guys, you could see right away this was a family affair. The love I’ve gotten from Who Dey Nation, really happy to be here, and when you look at all the options, at the end of the day, it came down to, I want to be in Cincinnati.

Zac Taylor did indicate Thursday that Risner would be available on Sept. 7 in Cleveland and that he could play either right or left guard, if needed.

“(He’s) another veteran player who has performed well during his time in the league,” Taylor said. “The timing is good to get him in here a week before the game and see where he’s at. We’ll see the timing of getting him out here at practice. If so he’ll just be going through some individual stuff today. We wouldn’t throw him in there full speed. It’s good to get a veteran in here who has played a lot of winning football and get him in the mix there in the O-Line.”

Taylor believes he is smart enough to learn the calls and line language quickly to be able to get in there and hold his own.

“(He’s) getting with the line coaches, just understand our terminology, our calls, our cadences,” Taylor added. “Smart guy who has been in several different systems. Expect him to be able to adapt quickly.

“(He’s) available for Cleveland, absolutely. We’ll see when we get him on the field. We had a workout with him last week and he looked great. He looks like he’s in great shape. He has a great mindset. We’ll get him out there, put the pads on, let him go through some stuff and see where he’s at next week.”

Bengals Thursday practice:
* Shorts and shells
* Dalton Risner dressed and observed OL drills before team periods
* Jalen Rivers filled in for Dylan Fairchild at first-team left guard in drills pre-team periods that were open to media.
* Rivers simply getting some reps between Orlando Brown Jr. and Ted Karras, with Risner, Lucas Patrick and Cody Ford filling the depth spots at right guard.
* Bengals players off Friday, Saturday, Sunday before returning Labor Day Monday. Will practice Monday, Weds, Thursday and Fri. for season opener Sept. 7 in Cleveland.