Tag: Ted Karras

Joe Burrow donated $25,000 to Village of Merici for Ted Karras to get tattoo

Joe Burrow with a huge assist, Ted Karras with some ink.

Cincinnati Bengals center Ted Karras was the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Charity Challenge winner after the fans voted for him. To repay them, he decided to offer free tattoos.

Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network wrote that Karras wasn’t going to get a tattoo that day, but Joe Burrow offered to donate $25,000 to the Village of Merici, which provides residential and community opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities, if Karras would get one too.

He took up Burrow on the offer and got a tattoo of the “Cincy” logo from the hats he has been selling since November 2022 to raise money for the Village of Merici.

“He (Burrow) is a man of his word, and so am I, so I’m getting this tattoo,” Karras said via Morrison. “I’m a little nervous. I see people coming up, and they’ve got the patch on, and it’s a little bit bloody, and I’m like ‘Oh, man.’”

Many fans who received free tattoos donated to the Village of Merici as well at the event where close to 500 people received tattoos from 45 local tattoo artists.

At the Sunday event branded “St. Tatt-rick’s Day,” many Bengals attended, including Trey Hendrickson who signed autographs for fans.

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Ted Karras and Ken Anderson team up to help adults with disabilities

Amazing work from Ted Karras and a Bengals legend.

Cincinnati Bengals nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year and former Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson are teaming up this offseason for a very good cause.

Karras has partnered with the Ken Anderson Alliance to create a residential community for adults with disabilities. The project aims to build affordable housing where there will be employment opportunities, social activities and more to help ensure a good quality of life.

Anderson and Karras got together to celebrate their partnership at The Holy Grail in Cincinnati on Jan. 18, where a fundraiser was held to help with costs for the project.

It aligns well with what has made Karras the nominee for the man of the year award since the sales of his famous Cincy hat all go to the Village of Merici for developmentally disabled adults in Indianapolis, where Karras is from.

“I haven’t been this excited about a project like this in a long time,” Anderson said at the fundraiser, via Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I know a lot of you have been disappointed we couldn’t have done something earlier, but now it will become a reality and I can’t thank Ted and Zach enough for making this all happen.”

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Ted Karras wins Walter Payton Man of the Year Charity Challenge fan vote

A big win for Bengals OL Ted Karras.

Cincinnati Bengals center Ted Karras won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Charity Challenge after a long fan voting process, becoming the first Bengals player to do so.

With the win, he will have $35,000 awarded to his charity partner, the Village of Merici, which provides opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in his hometown of Indianapolis.

Karras became the Bengals nominee because of his signature Cincy hat which he started selling in 2022. Since then he has had more than $800,000 in sales, with more than $325,000 going to the Village of Merici. Karras has also matched $100,000 in donations since then.

Karras is a finalist for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award which will be announced Feb. 8 during NFL Honors. If he wins the award, he will get an additional $250,000 donation for the charity of his choice.

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Ted Karras is Bengals nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

A huge moment for Ted Karras.

The Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominees have been announced and the Cincinnati Bengals player nominated is Ted Karras.

The award is given to a player who not only excels on the field but also gives back to his community and has a positive impact outside of football as well.

Karras started selling his Cincy Hat in 2022 which featured Bengals colors and claw marks. In the year since the website was launched, it has raised over $800,000 in sales with all proceeds past $325,000 going to Village of Merici.

Village of Merici is based in Karras’ hometown of Indianapolis and is a non-profit living community and service provider for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which he has been closely involved with as a donor, fundraiser and event host since 2016.

“I’m truly honored,” Karras said. “I’m so grateful to be a part of Village of Merici and grateful to everyone in the Cincinnati community. I can’t believe how this project turned into something like this. What a very humbling experience.”

When Cincy Hat started, Karras matched $100,000 in donations and hat orders, and since then it has expanded to selling shirts, visors and onesies to go along with the original hats.

“The financial support The Cincy Hat project has provided Village of Merici is incredible,” Colleen Renie, Village of Merici Executive Director said. “This project has become 10 times larger than any other fundraiser we have throughout the year. It’s given us the ability to think bigger and reach more adults in need. We have a large waitlist of adults in need of services, and we’ve been able to hire more coaches and serve more people with this new income stream.”

Each team in the NFL had a player nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, and each of them will be honored in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, with the winner being announced during the NFL Honors on Feb. 8 on CBS. The winner will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice.

Fans can vote for Walter Payton Man of the Year here, or by posting on Twitter with #WPMOYChallenge included in the post along with the name of the player they would like to vote for.

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‘Angry’ Ted Karras likes the energy around his underdog Bengals before MNF

A veteran Bengals OL wants to get a win.

The Cincinnati Bengals enter “Monday Night Football” against the Jacksonville Jaguars this week as underdogs — a role it sounds like the players are starting to embrace again.

Sans Joe Burrow, those players don’t really have a choice. But as starting center Ted Karras told reporters mid-week, it’s all about embracing the chance to go and knock off a good team in front of a national audience.

“We’re bringing the energy and we’ve got a big prime-time game against a team fighting for the No. 1 seed in this conference. It would be nice to go knock them off on Monday Night Football,” Karras said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’m just a little angry. That’s how I like to play sometimes. I think just in general we executed better just all 11 guys. A smoother, better practice. Guys came to work. Proud of the way this team is handling themselves. We’re going to find out a lot about ourselves the next six weeks.” ….

Beating the Jaguars to end a three-game skid files under easier said than done territory, especially because Karras’ offensive line will have to come up big in the running game.

But if nothing else, Karras and Co. certainly haven’t given up, as noted by the effort during last week’s loss to Pittsburgh.

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Ted Karras, Bengals offensive line looking for redemption

The Bengals offensive line wants to fix a serious problem.

The Cincinnati Bengals got back on track with the win over Arizona last week, yet not everything was up to par where players and the team would like it.

Take, for example, the offensive line.

While the new-look unit had a solid overall day and continues to move in the right direction, there was a notable lapse on a few short attempts that really stood out in a bad way.

Just ask starting center Ted Karras, who called multiple failures to convert “and-one” scenarios against the Cardinals “embarrassing” for the unit, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

It just goes to show that even in a dominant-looking win, this is the type of locker room that will nitpick to seek improvement everywhere. And from an outsider’s perspective, the team has invested far too many resources in the offensive line lately to see it come up so short in close situations like that.

While guys like Jonah Williams have impressed while playing a new position, the quest for overall improvement starts against the Seahawks and carries into the coming weeks.

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Bengals’ Ted Karras doesn’t regret viral Titans rant last year

Ted Karras is ready for another battle with Jeffrey Simmons.

Last time the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans met, Ted Karras had what was probably his most viral moment as a pro.

Marching off the field in Tennessee, Karras went on an expletive-filled rant that had much to do with the emotions of the game and the actions of Titans defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons.

A week later, Simmons was fined by the NFL for hitting Karras near the end of the game.

“No regrets,” Karras said, according to the Dayton Daily News’ Laurel Pfahler. “Justice was served. He (Simmons) got fined $11 grand. We’re gonna be back. It’s gonna be a grit-fest again. I’m sure they’ll have something for me. It wasn’t particularly at the Tennessee fans, but that’s what it was. I’m glad they didn’t get the stuff I was yelling at the Titans before that. It’s a game of a lot of emotion. It’s going to be another battle. This is a team built like an AFC North team, big, physical people and we need to go down there and even up our record.”

Karras kept his comments mundane, as expected, but it’s safe to presume the entire offensive line will keep in mind that it was Simmons on the ground and involved in multiple scuffles during victory formation last year.

If nothing else, it makes an already fantastic matchup all the more intriguing.

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How Mike Onwenu’s expiring contract could play out with Patriots

Will the Patriots reach a contract extension with starting guard Mike Onwenu?

The New England Patriots struck gold in 2020 when they selected a Michigan Wolverine in the sixth round of the NFL draft. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

Mike Onwenu bounced between right tackle and right guard, before finally settling in at right guard last season.

Although right guard is his more natural fit, he played right tackle earlier in his career due to need. Even though the Patriots have a glaring need at right tackle and a surging rookie at guard with Atonio Mafi, they want to keep Onwenu right where he is.

That decision, although puzzling, is well understood across the league. Onwenu is wildly viewed as one of the best guards in all of football, and he has improved every single year since 2020. He is up for a new contract, and the Patriots have yet to make any headway on it.

Many, including myself, want them to lock up Onwenu sooner than later, as the price for good versatile linemen continues to rise. That, and, the Patriots have a ton of cap space after 2023 with other roster spots to fill. They should without a doubt spend the cash on an elite, homegrown player, who’s job is to protect the most important player, the quarterback.

Unfortunately, the writing may be on the wall, as the Patriots rarely give any player a second contract. They feel that their scouting and development teams are better than most at identifying talent in the later draft rounds, especially on the offensive line.

The Patriots recently let Joe Thuney and Ted Karras walk, while also trading Shaq Mason to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They clearly feel they can revamp the line on the fly, rather than having money tied to good veterans they developed. Onwenu could be the latest casualty to this philosophy.

That’s unless Matt Groh has anything to say about it. Groh has slowly taken more and more control behind the scenes in player personnel, allowing Belichick to control the team operations. Perhaps he could get a deal done.

In the 2023 NFL draft, the Patriots selected Mafi, an offensive guard from UCLA, and he has quickly shot up the depth chart, which is a sign that the team could be ready to let Onwenu walk. Onwenu had surgery in the offseason and has been on the PUP list since the start of camp.

The absences of both Onwenu and Cole Strange, who is dealing with a leg injury, has allowed Mafi to work at both left and right guard.

If Groh is truly in charge, it might make sense to pay Onwenu like a tackle, move him back to right tackle and allow Mafi to take the reins at right guard moving forward.

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Brian Callahan believes in strongest Bengals offensive line he’s seen yet

Bengals coordinator Brian Callahan says the 2023 offensive line is the best yet.

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The Cincinnati Bengals offensive line has been one of their weakest points offensively since Joe Burrow was drafted, even surrending 41 sacks last season, which was in the bottom ten of the NFL.

On the Locked on Bengals podcast, Brian Callahan, the Bengals offensive coordinator, said he thinks the line they have put together is the best one he has seen since he’s been with the team.

“I think it’s safe to say it’s the best group from top to bottom that we’ve had in our time here,” Callahan said. “I just feel really good about the direction we’re headed, the players we’ve added and the players we have.”

Orlando Brown Jr. left the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in free agency to join the Bengals and strengthen the left side of the line, and Jonah Williams is moving to right tackle after requesting a trade when Brown signed.

Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, and Alex Cappa return as starters on the inside of the line giving them what Callahan believes will be a very strong group to protect Burrow.

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67 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 67 for New England

Here’s a list of every Patriots player to wear the No. 67 jersey number.

The New England Patriots are officially 67 days away from their regular season opener.

So we’re continuing our countdown series by listing every Patriots player that has ever worn the No. 67 jersey.

Two names that jump out in the Bill Belichick era are Dan Koppen and Ted Karras. Koppen was a reliable center for New England for nine seasons and helped the team win two Super Bowls. He also earned his one and only All-Pro nod in 2007, when helping the Patriots go unbeaten in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Karras also has two Super Bowl wins under his belt with the Patriots, before jumping ship to help anchor the offensive line for Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

With those two names in mind, here’s every Patriots player that has worn the No. 67 throughout franchise history (via Pro Football Reference):