For most of the Joe Burrow era, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ offensive line has been something to worry about. Maybe it’s finally becoming something to believe in.
And, if you listen to Amarius Mims and Dalton Risner, the reason goes well beyond blocking schemes, technique, or individual talent. It’s about five guys becoming one.
Risner and Mims sat down together recently for an exclusive interview with Bengals radio voice Dan Hoard, and what emerged was a picture of an offensive line that endured its share
of struggles last season but came through them closer and better than when it started.
“You see him growing, you see him want to be great,” Risner said of Mims. “He wants to be coached, he wants to see how he can get better. I love playing next to this guy.
For years, Cincinnati has tried different combinations in front of Burrow, adding veterans through free agency and young players through the draft. This year, instead of rebuilding the offensive line yet again, the Bengals are bringing back all five starters: Orlando Brown Jr., Dylan Fairchild, Ted Karras, Risner and Mims.
And there are signs that continuity will pay off. The line struggled early last season but improved dramatically as the year progressed. Over the last seven games of the season, Pro Football Focus graded Cincinnati’s offensive line among the top five in the NFL. And PFF identified both Risner and Mims among the NFL’s most improved players at their respective positions over the second half of the season.
Risner’s PFF grade improved from 56.8 over Weeks 1 through 9 to 79.6 from Weeks 10 through 18. Mims made an almost identical jump, going from 55.1 to 78.2. The improvement in Mims’ pass protection was particularly significant. After allowing 21 pressures and four sacks over the first nine weeks, the former first-round pick surrendered only 14 pressures and no sacks over the final eight.
“The last seven or eight games is when it really started to gel,” Mims said. “We weren’t winning as much, but it was obvious we were getting better.”
According to Mims, that improvement didn’t come because everything suddenly became easy. It came because the players learned how to deal with things going wrong.
“It’s how you overcome those bad games,” Mims said. “I learned from guys like him [Risner] and Orlando: do not let one bad play affect the whole game. We’re in this together. O-line is hard. Five as one. It’s not going to be perfect. It’s just, how can we make this better?”
That last phrase may be the key. Five as one.
Offensive-line play depends on communication and trust more than any other position group on the field. One player can execute his assignment perfectly, and the play can still fail because of a missed protection or blown assignment somewhere else. Mims believes Cincinnati’s line learned to accept that reality and learned to trust one another.
“We may not get the national credit,” Mims said. “As long as we know we have each other’s back, that’s all that matters.”
Risner saw the same transformation.
“We kept our heads on straight the whole year, kept working, kept working for each other,” he said. “We started to build this continuity. With time, we just aged well, started to get better throughout the year.”
Risner’s relationship with Mims is particularly interesting because the two players are at dramatically different points in their careers. Mims is just 23 years old and entering his third NFL season. Risner, 31, is entering his eighth.
“He is like a little brother to me. More than a little brother, he is a friend, and I want to see him succeed. I don’t want to let Mims down, I don’t want to let Ted down, I don’t want to let Joe down.”
Risner says Mims isn’t simply a talented young tackle. He’s a student of the game.
“During the season, we all ask Mims for the scouting report, for the injury report,” Risner said. “He knows all of this. He’s a football guy.”
And Risner has been impressed by Mims’ willingness to recognize his own mistakes.
“I think Mims is such a pro,” Risner said. “For me, it’s always seeing Mims for the positive things he does. Let’s go out there and take it one play at a time. During the game, it gets hectic. The way he is able to see his wrongs, I gained so much respect for him.”
Mims believes that willingness to admit mistakes is essential to becoming the player he wants to be.
“Once you’re vulnerable enough to understand where you need to grow, that’s when you become a good player,” Mims said. “Coach listed what we need to get better at, and we just had to go to work.”
The admiration clearly goes both ways.
“He’s one of the most selfless guys I’ve ever played with,” Mims said of Risner. “It’s always, ‘What can I do, how can I help you?’ That’s what I really like.”
That relationship helped bring Risner back to Cincinnati. After joining the Bengals shortly before the beginning of last season, Risner eventually started 11 games. Cincinnati didn’t allow him to reach the open market this spring, re-signing him to a one-year contract before the start of free agency.
According to Risner, Mims and Karras were among those pushing for his return.
“For him to care enough to say something that kind and to want me back, I’ve never had teammates like Ted and Mims that really campaigned for me to come back,” Risner said. “And that’s why I wanted to come back. “I could have probably made more in free agency somewhere else, but this is where I wanted to be. You don’t have Mims, Ted Karras, OB [Orlando Brown] at other places.”
The Bengals have rarely lacked offensive firepower during the Burrow era. The lingering question has been whether the five players up front could provide enough protection and a running game for that talent to reach its potential.
For once, Cincinnati enters a season without having to introduce a collection of new offensive linemen to each other. They already know each other. They have struggled together. They have improved together. And, perhaps most importantly, they actually care about one another.
“We went through not knowing each other, going through the worst times, then going through the best,” Mims said. “The sky’s the limit for us.
“I’m very excited.”
So is Cincinnati.
