Bengals Beat: The Moment Dalton Risner Knew He Wanted To Be Back In Cincinnati – With Support From Joe Burrow ‘This Is Where I Need To Be’

CINCINNATI — Dalton Risner couldn’t be happier to be back in Stripes.

And the Bengals and Joe Burrow certainly couldn’t be happier to have him back as the starting right guard after the 31-year-old signed a one-year, $3.25 million deal for the 2026 season, with incentives that could take the value up to $5 million. That means the full line protecting Joe Burrow is back in full force with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle, Dylan Fairchild at left guard, center Ted Karras, right guard Risner and right tackle Amarius Mims.

The irony is that Risner’s lowest moment came just two games into his stint with the Bengals.

He missed a block in the second quarter against Jacksonville that resulted in a pressure and an Arik Armstead sack on the Bengals star quarterback. Burrow went down in a heap and suffered a serious turf toe injury that resulted in a surgery and nine games missed in a Bengals season that eventually produced just six wins.

“I’ll always remember it. I’m never gonna forget about it, but I flushed it for sure, and I’ve always been a guy that’s gonna be real,” Risner said. “Let’s just call it for what it is. Man, we live in a world where we all try to be perfect, and we all try to have it all put together all the time, and no one wants to admit their mistakes. And I’d rather do the opposite. I’d rather just be exactly who I am and call it for what it is. Because when I do good or when I sign a deal like today, I want to celebrate it and call it for what it is. But when I don’t do my job, the job that I was called to do, let’s just handle it. You know what I mean?

“I’m not scared of it. I’m not scared not scared of controversy. I’m not scared of conflict. I’m not scared of failing. Because football isn’t what’s most important. My faith in Jesus and where I’m going after this life is far more important than the game of football. So I’m not scared to admit that I missed a block, because that doesn’t define me. But if we call it for what it for what it is, it was a big deal, and it was really hard, and I just felt like in that moment, if my kid, my future kid, is watching me, I think about that all the time, or my wife is watching me, I would rather them look at me and be a man and say, I can own my mistakes, and I can move forward, and I can do my job the best I can, and accept it for what it is, rather than being someone that makes excuses.

“Excuses are the worst. So it was tough. And in moments like that, you look at yourself in the mirror and say, What the heck. Like, this isn’t what I thought I had planned for this season, but you have two choices, like I’ve been saying all morning, and I made the choice to bite down and flush it and say, it’s one block. It’s one play. Could have happened to anybody. Let’s move forward. Let’s have a great rest of the season. And you saw how I played the rest of the year. You saw how we came together as an offensive line. And I think I just got to give credit to all the people that believed in me and gave me a shot moving forward from that.”

After that rough outing against Jacksonville, Risner struggled against at Minnesota before being benched in Denver. He returned at left guard against Detroit as an injury replacement for Dylan Fairchild and started the next two games there before not playing against the Jets or Bears. But he returned as a backup against Pittsburgh on the road and started the final seven games at right guard.

In moving forward, Risner became a stalwart on the Bengals offensive line. It was Burrow who appreciated how hard he worked to become a reliable part of that offensive line. And Burrow was one of the first calls Risner made to let the quarterback know he was back for 2026.

“Mad respect for Joe. Can’t wait to see him give him a big hug. We’ll see if he hugs me back,” Risner said. “It was great. I left him a voicemail. I think I talked for five minutes, and then I finally decided to hang up. And then he texted me and said, I got your voicemail. Call you tomorrow. And then we talked on FaceTime, like a day or two ago, and he was training, so that shouldn’t surprise anybody. He was grinding on sled pushes at the moment, and told me that it was going to be our year, and he was super excited to have me back, and we kind of just chopped it up, football-wise. So grateful for him. Great for him to take out time out of his offseason, to check in on me multiple times, checking on the deal process. And I think that just shows the way he leads this team and how much he wants to win. So I take a lot of pride in it, and I’ll put my body and my job and my career on the line for that guy. I can promise you that.”

Risner made a point of thanking four other people, his wife Whitney, who played the role of Adam Schefter and broke the news on Instagram, head coach Zac Taylor for giving him a chance to prove himself over the course of the season, offensive line coach Scott Peters and teammate and captain Ted Karras. In short, it felt like to Risner that everyone in the organization appreciated him being around.

“It’s kind of where I want to be,” Risner told me. “I think, the center point of the season, leading to the back half, especially when Joe got back and playing with Flacco as well. I mean, there are so many different keys to it, but as each week went on, I just kept seeing it more and more for like, wow, this is where I think I can be great. Scott Peters is going to make me a two times better football player this guy. He knows me, he understands me, he gets me. He values me for what I bring to the table. Wow. Zac Taylor sees me.

“Dan Pitcher just called me out in front of the whole team for hustling downfield and picking up my teammates. I’ve been doing that for eight years, and I’ve never had another coach call me out in a meeting for it. I’m like, ‘Wow, this place sees me. They value me. The fan base is talking about how much they want me here and how much they love me, and Burrow’s advocating for me, and Mims is now tweeting about me being back, he’s lying, talking about me being the best right guard in the league. But regardless, like so many people are backing me, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I think it’s just every week I was surprised with how much I was more and more saying this is where I need to be.'”

As for the logistics of the $3.25 million deal, he was on the road between Colorado and his home in Tampa and was pleasantly surprised when it all came together last week.

“It just wasn’t something that we expected to get done,” Risner confessed. “I didn’t think anyway. So the fact that we got it done was a little unexpected. We’re on the road, so we got to get home. I’m going to celebrate with my wife and my dog. This is my way to celebrate. Celebrate with you guys, giving Obie a hug, talking to Zac, talking to Scott Peters, staying at the hotel (Sunday) night, the Bengals have rolled out the red carpet, man. We had snacks waiting on us, and we’re pretty easy-going people, but they’ve taken great care of us, made us feel really special. And truly the way we celebrate is go win a Super Bowl, bro. You know what I mean? Not going to throw a big party, not going to stay up too late. I like to be in bed by 8pm tonight and get back to working out tomorrow, and the world keeps going.”