CULTURE CLUB: A couple of weeks ago Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo called the potential departure of both starting safeties in free agency “a dark day.” The first day after Jessie Bates III (Atlanta) and Vonn Bell (Carolina) made it a reality, Anarumo looked ahead.
“It’s always the darkest before the dawn, so here we go,” Anarumo said. “We’ll figure it all out. Sad for us, but those guys it worked out for both of them in their careers. They were great for us and wish them nothing but the best.”
Anarumo admitted it’s a blow, but he also stressed its life in the league.
“I’m still walking by their lockers and be like, you take a minute you digest it and then you realize, okay, this is the reality of it,” Anarumo said. “And we all have to move on. That’s just how it is. And so yeah, I think we’ll make the right decisions and move on to next year.”
Bell and Bates were terrific influencers in the locker room as well as in the secondary room, where Bell would call weekly players-only meetings. But when Anarumo looks at veterans like cornerbacks Mike Hilton and Chidobe Awuzie and safety Michael Thomas, a special teamer who has signed up for an 11th season, he sees the culture intact.
“You want a guy in there? Well, you know, Chido is in there, and Mike Hilton,” Anarumo said. “So I don’t know that anything would slip by those two, to start, and then you put Mike (Thomas) in there. That’s the beauty of it and I think we’ll be fine there.
“I don’t see anything slipping in there, (with) the two Mikes and Chido. They’re not going to let anything slip. Trust me.”
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