Dalton Risner is the secret hero driving the Bengals' high-powered offense

The Cincinnati Bengals are in great shape with a 5-2 record entering Week 9's awesome trip to Madrid to take on the Atlanta Falcons. Well, at least their offense is in great shape, and a big, underrated reason for that is Dalton Risner.

Even as the Bengals' rushing attack has struggled, Risner has excelled in that department and continued building his reputation as one of the low-key best interior pass blockers in all of football.

We've praised right tackle Amarius Mims a lot in this space. He's deserved it with his elite pass protection for Joe Burrow. However, Mims and Risner are only as good as the men next to them, and they're absolutely feeding off each other to great success.

Risner has risen to the occasion on one-year deal in Cincinnati

As an 11th-hour addition to the roster just before last season, Datlon Risner was unfairly thrust into duty in Week 1. Ted Karras famously said it was one of the greatest displays of professionalism he's ever seen in the NFL, and Ted has been around a while. And played with Tom Brady in New England.

To me that speaks volumes about Risner's football character alone. Then you throw in how affable he is and how much he evidently loves being a Bengal, and it's the perfect scenario.

So while I was surprised (OK maybe not that surprised) that Cincinnati low-balled Risner this offseason, good on him for taking the meager $3.72 million for the 2026 season. There's no question he could've gotten paid more elsewhere.

That's only proven out with how well he's played this year. Risner boasts the 12th-best PFF pass blocking grade among guards and is No. 8 in run blocking.

Risner bet on himself to some degree. Yes, he runs the risk of just being a year-to-year basis player in perpetuity, but the fact that he's only gotten better should result in a solid raise and a multi-year commitment. Then again, that didn't come to pass with Trey Hendrickson, and the Bengals were fortunate that it worked out so well for them in the end. Probably won't play out that way twice.

With Mims extension-eligible this offseason and Risner due to hit the open market, the Bengals might want to be proactive about retaining their in-house talent for once. Maybe keep those fellas in place, because they're a lethal duo that has the Bengals as PFF's No. 2 pass blocking o-line.

I mean just look at what Burrow is doing with this much-improved pass protection. Playing like a freaking MVP. The superior pass blocking allows Burrow to air it out deeper downfield to capitalize on his elite intermediate accuracy. Look at the results.

As for capitalizing on Risner's run blocking prowess, well, it'd behoove the Bengals to upgrade from Chase Brown with someone like, say, Jonathan Taylor. But that's a whole other can of worms. We'll find out in five days or so whether that's in the cards!

My larger point here is as follows: Offensive linemen too seldom go unnoticed when they're doing an exceptional job. Such is the case right now with Dalton Risner and it ain't right.

So thank you, Dalton. You're a freaking stud and like Orlando Brown Jr., I feel like you want to be buried a Bengal. Mad respect. Ball out in Madrid, big guy!!

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