It's time for this guy to get inducted to the Bengals Ring of Honor!

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses why Cincinnati Bengals analyst Dave Lapham should be the team's next Ring of Honor inductee!

Transcript

00:00We're about a month away from the Bengals announcing their latest Ring of Honor class,

00:03and with changes coming in the near future to the whole process, I think it's time for one

00:06special former player to get his moment in the sunlight. In this video, I'll explain who that

00:11player is. What's up, Bengals fans? John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,

00:18and let's talk about something a little bit more lighthearted than contract disputes and

00:22players withholding themselves from practicing and all that jazz, right? Let's talk about the

00:26Bengals Ring of Honor. A few weeks back, the Bengals announced which game they will induct

00:30their 2025 Ring of Honor class. It'll be week eight against the New York Jets, and it'll be

00:34two of nine nominees from this year's ballot. Now, it should be noted that the nine candidates this

00:39year have been on the ballot ever since the Ring of Honor was first started back in 2021. And just

00:43like the previous four years, two former players will be inducted. But the Bengals also teased that

00:48starting next year, there will be changes coming to the Ring of Honor. Now, the team didn't specify

00:52what changes were on the horizon, but the two best guesses as for those changes are, are how many

00:56former players get inducted per ceremony, and if the ceremony is no longer going to be on an annual

01:01basis. There are 10 names in the Ring of Honor currently, and they've done this for four years,

01:05and there's going to be two more this year. So that's going to be 12 inductees in a span of five

01:10years. The club naturally wants to make this a more sustainable thing for the years to come.

01:14So they're either going to reduce the amount of times that they do this, or reduce the amount of

01:18players that get inducted every time that they do this. And what all of this means is that there are

01:22nine names on that ballot, and seven of them won't get in this year. And those seven specifically are

01:27going to have a tougher time getting in in future years, which is why I think that this year is

01:32finally the year that Dave Lapham gets inducted into the Ring of Honor. And before we get to the

01:37reasons why, I just want to make it clear that I grew up with Bengals football, which means that I

01:41also grew up with Dave Lapham's voice. No matter what was going on with the team, he was synonymous with

01:46it. And there are fans who know him more for what he does now, what he's done for the past couple of

01:50decades, a lot more than what he did for this team as a player. And his playing career specifically

01:54is why I think that if he doesn't get in this year, he may have a hard time getting in in future

01:59years. Out of the nine nominees in this year's class, a lot of them have Pro Bowl honors next to

02:04their name. A lot of them have team records next to the name, or at least stats beyond just games

02:08played. Lapham doesn't have any of that. He's ninth all time in games played. He was a part of that

02:12Super Bowl 16 team, and he's been a part of the franchise for basically his entire professional

02:17career. But it's been very clear and obvious with the fan voting over the last four years

02:20that the Ring of Honor has been about bringing attention to players who deserve proper recognition,

02:25not just from the Bengals, but from around the NFL as a whole. Like, it's no coincidence that both

02:29Ken Anderson and Ken Reilly were the first two nominees voted in by the fans because everyone

02:34believes that they should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And of course, Ken Reilly eventually got

02:38voted into the Hall of Fame, unfortunately, after he died, which was tragic, but they're still pushing

02:42for Ken Anderson to get that same honor. The very next year, Willie Anderson goes into the Ring of

02:45Honor, and he's been a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist for the last four years, and he's going

02:48to be a finalist this year as well. Even Corey Dillon has that Hall of Fame support, and he was

02:52a Ring of Honor inductee last year. Dave Lapham is obviously not going into the Pro Football Hall

02:56of Fame, so voting him into the Ring of Honor is not for the same reasons as some of the other guys

03:00who've been voting in before him. But if the team is really shifting things where it's only going to

03:03be one inductee per ceremony, or the ceremony is going to be every two or three years,

03:08I think this is the time to make sure that Lapham gets this moment. Because in future years where there's

03:12going to be even more names and more recent names on the ballot, like the likes of AJ Green,

03:16Gina Wackens, and players like that, it's going to be harder and harder for Lapham to get in,

03:20I think. Now, I can't vote in this process because I'm not a season ticket holder, and I think voting

03:23has already closed two weeks ago anyways, so this was not meant to sway any voters regardless.

03:28I have pushed for other players to be inducted over the past four years, including Lamar Parrish,

03:31who I think still remains one of the more underrated Bengals in franchise history. But this is not

03:36about any of that. I think Lapham has been close to being inducted over the past few years

03:40because of how popular he is with the fan base and how he's basically Mr. Bangle himself. And

03:44if it does become harder and harder for players, especially those who played in the 70s and 80s

03:48to be voted in in future years, I think maybe this is finally the time. But unlike me, I'm sure

03:52there's someone watching this video who did vote in this year's Ring of Honor ballot. And if that was

03:56you, leave a comment down below who you voted for and tell me why I'm right or wrong about Dave Lapham

04:01finally getting in in 2025.

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