• Ben BabyMar 2, 2026, 09:44 AM ET

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  Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN's NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

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CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Bengals retained one of their best offensive linemen ahead of the start of free agency, signing right guard Dalton Risner to a one-year deal on Monday.

The deal is worth up to $5 million, agents Drew Rosenhaus and Shawn O'Dare told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Risner started nine of his 14 appearances at right guard last season, including the final seven games of the season. He ranked 36th in pass block win rate as a guard at 92.6%, which is the highest mark of any Bengals player since Zac Taylor became head coach before the 2019 season.

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Taylor was vocal last week at the NFL combine about being able to retain Risner if the two sides were able to work out a deal.

"I like Dalton a lot," Taylor said. "We are in the business side of it right now. We continue to work through it. He did a great job for us last year and I liked being around him."

When Risner started the final seven games of the season, Cincinnati ranked 23rd in overall pass block win rate, an improvement from 29th in the first 11 weeks of the season.

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