Dalton Risner Quote

  Free-agent guard addition Dalton Risner debuted a fun personality on Sunday following the latest Bengals practice, where he got suited up with his teammates for the first time. The veteran is ready to do whatever the team needs in its pursuit of wins following a wait in free agency.

Risner is striving to perform well enough to avoid any experience on the market next year.

"Miserable," Risner said with a smile about the wait all offseason. "I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. It's unfortunate how it's ended up like that the last couple of 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 sometimes that gets tough, but 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."

Risner took a measured approach with his decision over the last few weeks and became the second new offensive piece in a row to leave their Cincinnati visit without a deal and end up signing.

Tight end Noah Fant took a similar approach, and both could make an immediate impact next weekend. Pro Football Focus shows Risner hasn't allowed a sack in the last two seasons as one of the league's better interior pass protectors (1,282 total snaps). 

He's flashed some flaws since entering the league in 2019, but could break out his best season at 29 years old.

"I've been here eight hours, and I came here on a visit. But I can tell you from that short amount of time, the way this locker room is and conversations with Trey [Hendrickson], 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, an organization that feels tight-knit, loyal, an organization that wins football games, you put all that together, it's just somewhere you want to be.

"So I'm really grateful to be here. I have a quote, and it's, 'When you're grateful for what you have, you have everything you need.' And I'm really grateful to be here. I don't need a thing more. And excited to see my role."

Risner joked about putting his head down and working without media attention. Great play won't get ignored for long if he strikes oil in Cincy.

"You've got to come in and be yourself. And you can't have 13 cameras by your locker after every practice," Risner joked. "That's not the way to do it. So help me out a little bit here, guys, or else I'm not going to be doing so well on the fines. But I'm going to come in and be myself. I'm going to earn respect. I'm entitled to nothing. I expect nothing out of being here right now; my job is to come in if you need me to carry water. 

"I don't care what it is, I'm going to come in here and earn the respect of the guys in the room, earn respect of the coaches, of this team, and put my head down and go to work and see where things end up. That's all you can do."