Dalton Risner on Free agency, Future With Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00Not even a one full year in Cincinnati, but what was your general impression of

00:05how you fit, how you felt about your time here with the Bengals?

00:09Man, I've loved wearing the stripes from the moment I stepped in here.

00:14I feel like my whole career, throwing it all the way back to draft prep,

00:18the Cincinnati Bengals fans have been calling for Reisner to be in Cincinnati.

00:22So it was such a blessing looking at the camera for a few of these

00:25to be able to come here and to be able to be welcomed by you fans,

00:28be welcomed, and be a Cincinnati Bengals.

00:30It was truly a pleasure for me, man.

00:32I didn't take any of it for granted.

00:34I didn't take any of it lightly.

00:36I loved being here.

00:37The coaching staff, the organization, the top down, Jeff Rubies, Soto,

00:41all of this stuff here, man.

00:43The river right there, being in Kentucky one day and Ohio the next,

00:46Pacor Stadium, playing in the jungle, playing for Joe Burrow,

00:50playing for Joe Flacco, blocking next to Omarius Mims, Ted Karras, Orlando Brown,

00:54playing with Dylan Fairchild, all these guys, man.

00:56It was truly a blessing.

00:57And I feel overwhelmed with the ups and downs of this season from showing up here.

01:03Four days later, I was in my pool, and then I'm playing Myles Garrett at the dog pound.

01:08And then, you know, I have a tough game against the Jaguars,

01:11and Joe Burrow gets hurt.

01:12And then I lose my spot.

01:14And then I come back and play really good at left guard for two games.

01:18Then I lose my spot again.

01:19And then I get to finish the season starting seven or eight games,

01:22playing some of my best football in my career.

01:24It was truly just a blessing when you look at it.

01:26I know you didn't ask a lot of that, but I feel very overwhelmed today with the journey

01:30and what God brought this season as a Cincinnati Bengal, even though we fell short.

01:34Sounds like you'd be open to coming back.

01:36You know, that's been the word on the street, man.

01:39Everyone's been talking about it, and that's exactly what I want to do.

01:41This is where I want to be.

01:42Unfortunately, I feel like there's a business aspect to it.

01:46But at the end of the day, I love this coaching staff.

01:51My offensive line coach, Scott Peters, Mike McCarthy.

01:53I want to play next to Amarius Mims and Ted Karras because who won it?

01:56I want to play for Zach Taylor.

01:58I want to play for Dan Pitcher.

02:00I want to play for this organization.

02:01I want to be a Cincinnati Bengal.

02:02I want to block for Joe Burrow.

02:04I want to block for Chase Brown.

02:05I want to block for T. Higgins and Jamar Chase.

02:07I could go on and on and on with a list of guys in this locker room of why I want to be here.

02:12The fit, how I play, how I think I can help this team win,

02:15the continuity that I had with this offensive line and how we continue to build all year.

02:20Yeah, this is exactly where I want to be.

02:21But at the same time, I said it earlier this week, and I said it last week,

02:26because I feel like it's got to be a mutual thing where we come together and do it.

02:29So I know where I stand, and I hope that we can get the Bengals to want the same thing.

02:34When are you hoping to hear from the powers that be?

02:36I'd personally like to not hit free agency.

02:38You know, I've said that I don't want to get to that mess of getting other teams involved.

02:43I'd love to just let it be a thing between me and the Bengals.

02:45I hope they call me later today.

02:46I hope they call me tomorrow.

02:47You know what I mean?

02:48Yeah, men's my dog does too.

02:50So it's one of those things for me where I just got to sit and be patient

02:55and let my agent do the work that my agent does.

02:58And if they want me here, I want to be here, man.

03:00How important is it for you to find a home because of the past few years

03:05and bouncing around in the one-year deals and all the uncertainty?

03:07I'm sure you guys saw my New Year's resolution, man.

03:09I don't want to be signed in August or September.

03:12That's hard on the mental.

03:13That's hard on the physical.

03:15It's huge because showing up here in April, you can start building what I started to build here in August.

03:20We can start doing that in April.

03:21And we can pick up where we left off.

03:23And I just think it's so important for us as an offensive line to keep that moving forward.

03:27And for me, man, it's like, okay, now I know where we're going to be.

03:30I know where me and my wife are going to be.

03:31We want to be in Cincinnati.

03:32We can find a house.

03:34All those things as opposed to kind of having to make it happen all at once in August or September.

03:38So I hope this January, February, March, before whatever the day is, March 14th or whatever it is,

03:43we can get something done to where we can put it in ink and I can be a Bengal,

03:47wear the stripes for one more year.

03:48Don, you said you were playing some of your best football down the stretch there.

03:51Why do you think that was the case?

03:53Was there something different?

03:54The people around me, I can't give it too much credit to myself.

03:56Truly, when you have a center like Ted Karras and you've got a right tackle like Amarius Mims,

04:02you're going to play better football.

04:04My offensive line coach, Scott Peters and Mike McCarthy, are unbelievable coaches.

04:08And I think that the way that they taught their schemes this year helped me really evolve as a football player.

04:13And then I think playing in Dan Pitcher and Zach Taylor's offense continued to help me as well.

04:18And then when you've got number nine back there slinging it, he's going to make you look good as well.

04:21So I think it's a testament to everything going on around me, my wife at home and her support.

04:26And I couldn't do any of this without her.

04:28And then mainly above everything, I'm not trying to be corny,

04:31but my relationship with Jesus Christ and the way he blesses me is hands down the only reason I'm standing here today.

04:37So a lot of everything around me and a little less of me.

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