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  • 6/19/2025
John Sheeran discusses why Cincinnati Bengals analyst Dave Lapham should be the team's next Ring of Honor inductee!

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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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