[jwplayer Ms1vBFZx]
A Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor was an inevitable talking point in the wake of Ken Riley’s death.
We lobbied hard for it. So did a Bengals great, among many others.
Robbed by the Hall of Fame, Riley never got his chance there and didn’t get an illustrious honor other franchise greats do around the NFL via a Ring of Honor.
And this has apparently hit home. According to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., the front office felt a similar way:
“Through conversations with organizational sources, however, it’s clear Riley’s passing did stir the discussion about the Ring of Honor concept at Paul Brown Stadium. There are renewed conversations about the possibility and how it could be executed.”
One of the many reasons the Bengals don’t have a Ring of Honor simply stems from Paul Brown’s approach to honoring teams, not players. That’s not news.
But the idea Bengals hierarchy could be rattled enough to modernize in this area certainly is. It probably shouldn’t have gotten to this point, but years of fans begging for it and now past Bengals greats demanding it was bound to move the needle.
We’ll see how an odd offseason and season with potential restrictions on fan attendance jumbles this idea. But it sure sounds like the Bengals organization is starting to open up more about this.
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