Bengals bolster offensive line depth by signing free-agent guard Dalton Risner

CINCINNATI AP The Bengals signed veteran offensive guard Dalton Risner on Thursday and coach Zac Taylor announced that there s absolutely a chance that Risner will be working when the Bengals face the Cleveland Browns on Sept He s another veteran athlete who has performed well during his time in the league Taylor explained The timing is good to get him in here a week before the match and see where he s at We ll see the timing of getting him out here at practice It s good to get a veteran in here who has played a lot of winning football and get him in the mix there in the O-Line Risner a six-year veteran has made starts and played for the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings He started a postseason match for the Vikings last January but he was not re-signed by the association Risner was on the free agent domain all summer and did not spend training camp with a unit There were offers out there but you weigh your options and you compare contracts Risner declared You re not going to be in the NFL forever so you want to inevitably weigh your options and see what type of contracts are being offered to you and your agent and make the decision from there But as soon as I kind of felt like that s where things were at I was like Man let s go to Cincinnati The Bengals still haven t released their right guard for Week Cordell Volson was expected to be the starter but is out for the season due to a shoulder injury The competition has included veterans Lucas Patrick and Cody Ford who have been backups for important portions of their careers and fifth-round rookie Jalen Rivers Risner now gives the Bengals another option at that position I m a competitor Risner noted I came here to help the Cincinnati Bengals in whatever role that is If I m ongoing Week let s go This isn t an off weekend for me I didn t go through four or five weeks of training camp I ve been grinding so I take a lot of pride in the shape I m in But let s be honest these guys just got done with a five-week grind and OTAs so they deserve a couple of days off I ll be in my playbook getting right so I can help the company prepare for the Cleveland Browns Before the Bengals signed Risner the association only had eight offensive linemen on the -man roster Teams typically carry nine or The Bengals offensive line depth struggled during training camp Instead of placing a backup who didn t perform well during the summer on the -man roster the Bengals picked up Risner The -year-old is excited about the opportunity in front of him They didn t have to sell me very much at all Risner noted That s not really the NFL either These guys are going to show you what they re made of they re going to show you the way they build the organization From the way I went to a workout and they had the owner there and the GM all these guys you could see right away this was a family affair The love I ve gotten from Who Dey Nation really happy to be here And when you look at all the options at the end of the day it came down to I want to be in Cincinnati AP NFL https apnews com hub nfl Source