A college captain. A postseason vet. A seamless locker room fit ascending into his second contract.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and his staff have followed their Roaring ’20s Super Bowl formula in the first week of NFL free agency and reportedly came out of it with Rams starting safety Nick Scott this weekend. The Bengals won’t announce the deal until it is signed, which could be as early as Monday. But Scott happily confirmed he’s the newest Bengal.
“Already in the text chain,” Scott said late Friday night. “I’ve received a text from just about everybody in the DB room and linebacker room. (Sam) Hubbard. (Trey) Hendrickson. All those guys reached out already within minutes of me (agreeing to) the deal. That defense embraced me. When you’re tight like that, it makes it easy to be on one accord and play good ball.”
We’ve reached the point where suddenly Taylor is heading into his fifth season, arriving the day after his Rams lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots. In NFL years, that’s a generation ago. Taylor was never with Scott on the Rams and, in fact, coached against him in Super Bowl LVI when Scott started and helped edge the Bengals a year ago in February.
“I tried not to bring that up on the visit,” said Scott, who was at Paycor Stadium Thursday. “But they brought it up themselves. How good of a game it was and how to hopefully return to have that opportunity again. This team is fully capable of being a Super Bowl team. They’ve got every piece that you need to do it. I’m fortunate enough to have been on the winning side of that. I really think we can get back there with this team. I’m excited. That whole (secondary) room has got a lot of talent and I’m only hoping I can add to it and bring the best out of those guys because I know they’ll bring the best out of me with the experience they have. And you can tell what a tight-knit group they are.”
We’re also at the point where defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and his Staten Island Stew scheme have become a…
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