One of the great moments of this or any other Bengals season came in the visiting locker room Sunday night after the win over the Giants when head coach Zac Taylor tossed safety Tycen Anderson a game ball after making two more tackles on special teams.
It came 50 weeks after Anderson suffered a season-ending ACL injury and punctuated a grueling comeback where he erased all the question marks. Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson spent some hang time with Anderson in his weekly conversation that touched on the comeback, mentors, and how his dad's work ethic has fueled his drive to become a Pro Bowl special teamer.
The Conversation:
GH: What was the lowest point of your rehab?
TA: Probably when I first got back to Cincinnati. I spent six to eight weeks in L.A. My start to rehab was slower than expected. That was the low point. Being able to learn how to walk again when you never thought you would have to teach yourself really how to walk. That probably was the low point for me. 'I can't even walk right now. What's really going on?' That was a pretty low point. My quad wasn't firing correctly at the time. It was just a slow start to it all.
GH : You did it out in San Fran. How did it happen?
TA: A gunner rep. I forced a fair catch, and the returner was kind of running at me, and I'm trying to avoid him. I planted my left leg in the ground to avoid him, and my knee just buckled.
GH: You had eight tackles in the first six games. Were you thinking Pro Bowl?
TA: For sure.
GH: Why?
TA: I'm always looking at how other guys are doing around the league, and at that point in time, I was number one in tackles in the league. So I was, for sure, thinking Pro Bowl. And I finally creeped up. I was coming from behind, just like I am kind of this year. So I was just keeping up from behind, just trying to take it better, one step every day.
GH: Your thing is that 4.3-second speed in the 40-yard dash. Are you as fast as you were before you got hurt?
TA: Some would say probably faster. We've got our GPS trackers, so my high is 21.7 (MPH) right now. I'm trying to crack 22. About the same. Trying to crack the 22.
GH: Who was the 21.7 against?
TA: I think it was a few weeks ago against Carolina on the bomb (Ryan) Rehkow hit when I pinned them on the 12- or 13-yard line.
GH: Are there any gunners you keep an eye on and watch on tape?
TA: (Matthew) Slater, Mike Thomas. A gunner on the Jets. I don't know a lot of dudes' names. (Brenden) Schooler on the Patriots. Myself. Every week I get the gunners' tackles from (video coordinator) Maisy (Nielsen) upstairs. She does a great job of getting me all my clips and stuff ready so I can rep my matchup, know everything that's going on around the league. So whenever guys flash up on the tape a couple of times, I'm 'OK, OK, this is a good player here.'
GH: Who is flashing up there now?
TA: I believe myself, Schooler, number 19 on the Jets (Irvin Charles) is pretty good.
GH: Are you thinking Pro Bowl again?
TA: Every time I step on the field. I don't step on the field to be average. I'm shooting for the stars.
GH: Five tackles on teams now in six games, right?
TA: Yeah, five, but I'm going to send something in and argue for a sixth. There was a tackle versus the Patriots week one. A kickoff tackle.
GH: Do you log those?
TA: You have to. If you don't fight for yourself, nobody will. At the end of the day, the worst thing they can say is, 'No, you weren't in on the tackle.' But maybe they say, 'Yes,' and now I got six and now I'm closer to my goals.
GH: How many tackles do you need?
TA: I don't know, honestly. I know the leader. How many he has right now. (Nick) Bellore from Washington. He's doing a heck of a job. He's got 11 already.
GH: He must be covering kickoffs, too. You guys have mostly been kicking it into the end zone and not risking returns.
TA: They for sure cover a lot of kicks, I haven't seen all his tackles, obviously. But when we played them, they covered a lot of kicks because it was a high-scoring game.
GH: You'll have to lobby against touchbacks.
TA: We have to just continue to play our role to win games. Whatever that role is. If that's kicking eight touchbacks, that's kicking eight touchbacks. If it's eight in-play kicks, I'm ready for it all.
GH: You watch a lot of tape.
TA: You have to watch the other guys so I know how they play me, how to attack them. What the returner looks like.
GH: What makes a good gunner?
TA: A good gunner is somebody who plays fast, doesn't second guess his movements, has efficient steps at the line of scrimmage, and it comes down to the tackle. If you're not making any plays with tackles, you're wasting your speed at that point. Efficient steps. Ability to use your hands down the field. It's not too often you get holding calls out there, so it's like you have to use your hands to separate from guys.
GH: Having a long hitter like Rehkow has to help the gunner.
TA: Shew. His ability to be directional. Really good. To get the hang time, really good. Great. Then the ability to boot it 60, 70, 80 yards every time it touches his foot. I mean, he's electric in himself. It's just my job to go down there and chase the ball down, and get his average as high as possible.
GH: You were a track guy in high school in Toledo, right? Did you go to states?
TA: I was a 6-8 high jumper. That and the long jump were my specialty. It's crazy because my sophomore year was the only year I went to states for the high jump and then my junior year, I placed third in the state with 23-1 in the long jump and then my senior year I placed fifth in the state with 23-5 ½.
GH: Did you ever wonder during rehab if you'd get all that speed and athleticism back?
TA: Like I said, I never really doubted anything, because I knew I had the best of the best taking care of me. I knew my work ethic was one of one, so it was more just stacking days on top of each other, and weeks on top of each other, and months on top of each other to get back to where I'm at now.
GH: How tough was it not playing your rookie year in 2022 because of a hamstring injury in training camp?
TA: It was super tough, but everything happened for a reason. I had to do some more things, better, I guess,
To earn my right to be out there, really, and I got hurt at a bad time, obviously. I got hurt in the third quarter of the third preseason game.
GH: At that point, it was a numbers game.
TA: Literally. We had Jessie Bates, we had Von Bell. We had Tre Flowers playing down and we had Dax Hill, who was in a backup safety role. Mike Thomas was a special teams ace. It was just the numbers game. I was healthy enough to play probably week two or three of the season.
GH: Mike Thomas retired this year and is now working for the NFL Players Association. You're also involved in the NFLPA as an assistant player rep and now you're the special teams ace. How big was Mike Thomas in your development?
TA: He was extremely important. You could argue that he was the most important, to be honest. He just, he just broke the game down to me on and off the field. He just broke the game down to me.
Show me what I should be keying. Showing me the confidence that I should have in myself. Just where the returns are going, what I should be looking for versus vise, helping me with PP (punt protector) when I played PP, helping me with gunner before I could play gunner. Helping me with left guard things on punt return. Helping me with safety before I even saw myself as a safety on kickoff. He helped me with so much, really, on and off the field. I'm super grateful. I still talk to him even though he's not here all the time.
GH: You can play everywhere on teams, right? Gunner. You can play PP if you have to. On kick return …
TA: We kind of move around depending on matchups of the week, but left tackle, left guard, I can play all of them.
GH: And kick cover. What's more satisfying, a tackle on kick cover or punt?
TA: They both are tackles. All of them mean something.
GH: When did you have an idea you'd be back to yourself? You had the same surgeon as Joe Burrow. Neal ElAttrache of the Rams.
TA: I mean, I never really, doubted that I was going to be back to myself. I knew I had a great doctor. He's great. I knew we had a great strength staff here. I knew we had great trainers here. I knew my work ethic is top tier. So I never really doubted the fact. I knew I was starting slow. But I never doubted myself really ever.
GH: I guess a guy coming out of Toledo gets doubted as a fifth-rounder, although the Bengals had faith and traded up to get you.
TA: Born and raised. We've got a lot of dudes from Toledo and guys that went to the University of Toledo in the league. Ten to 15 guys, including practice squad. Some are retired now. If you look at Toledo history, a lot of dudes.
GH: Did you want to go away to college?
TA: If I was going to play in the MAC, I was going to Toledo. I didn't get Big 10 offers. The University of Kentucky came on kind of late. I went on a visit there. That visit didn't really persuade me to abandon my commitment to Toledo. The University of Kentucky probably came my senior year. I wasn't going to leave Toledo for just a bigger school when the relationships I built there were already getting set.
GH: When did you commit to Toledo?
TA: My junior year.
GH: Did you commit too early?
TA: I guess you probably could say that. But a kid coming from nothing and somebody bringing a scholarship offer and it's my hometown team I've been watching since I was a little kid. A bigger school could come in whether I was committed or not. I wouldn't say I committed too early. For sure, I probably committed earlier than typical.
GH: Why was Kentucky the only big school to come after you?
TA: Honestly, when I look back on it, I'm really kind of confused. It's all God's plan, really. I can't really complain. I was in the perfect position. I met some of my best friends at Toledo, some of the best coaches who ever coached me are from Toledo. So super thankful for Toledo.
GH: When you say a kid who came from nothing, what's nothing?
TA: Just the inner city of Toledo. It's called "The Mud," for a reason. Not a lot of folks truly make it out. So the ones who do make it out, I mean, just like anywhere, everybody has their poverty, everybody has stuff going on in the city.
Luckily for me, I had a great family. They always have my back … Middle class … Comfortable? Yeah. Comfortable … We didn't have the most but we always had each other. And I went to a great school, had great mentors in football. So I had a lot of good stuff around me.
GH: What do your folks do for a living?
TA: My dad is a self-employed carpenter, so he works with his hands. That's pretty much where I get my work ethic from really watching him do his thing every day and don't complain. Just always get up and go no matter what. My mom, she was a secretary at a chiropractor's office. Now she's a secretary at ProMedica hospital.
Super loving family. It truly takes a village. A thousand percent. I live by that quote because I know I would be nothing without my parents and obviously all my family who helped.
GH: Did you ever work with your dad?
TA: When I was younger. Summers. Probably until sixth or seventh grade when I started playing sports. I told him, 'Hey, dad, that's it.' He works hard. He's a handyman. He's got cars throughout the city and neighborhood. His nickname is 'Dig.' His motto is 'Dig a do it.' There's nothing he can't do. Whatever you want. Dig will do it. Whatever you want.
GH: I guess it's 'Dig,' because he's always digging. Working. Like you, right?
TA: I'm telling you.
GH: You say you got your work ethic from him. Have you got an example of your work ethic?
TA: This morning I guess you can say. I woke up this morning at six o'clock on an off day. Had Pilates at seven, came into rehab about eight o'clock, 8:30. Took care of some treatment on my knee. Continue to just nurse that and stay as healthy as possible through the year.
And then we had DB meetings this morning at 9:30. So I've been up since six this morning. Helped the kids this morning (at a community event at Paycor Stadium.) Won't get a lift in today. I'll get a massage later on. I guess that kind of shows it. But I don't really like to talk about my work ethic. I just like to let it speak for itself, I guess. Other people can talk about it.
GH: What time was Dig up today?
TA: Probably about the same. About seven o'clock.
