Ben Bibby, ESPN Staff Writer, October 4, 2024, 11:00 a.m
CloseBen Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Before joining ESPN, he worked at various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while appearing on SportsCenter, NFL shows on ESPN, and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an assistant professor of journalism at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
CINCINNATI — The red stripe on his helmet may have been a neon warning sign.
At youth soccer fields near Cochran, Georgia, a piece of red tape was taped down the middle on players of a certain size, indicating that they had exceeded the weight limit for ball carriers.
So, if the ball finds its way into Amarius Mims’ hands, it’s game over. The risk of imminent collision with a smaller player negates any number of yards gained. Mims was playing in an age group above his age.
“I caught a pickaxe one time and had to stand there,” Mims said.
Throughout his youth career, Mims’ size has always made him an outsider. But with the Cincinnati Bengals, he is one of three 6-foot-8 offensive tackles. That massive frame, coupled with a rare combination of talent, helped him make an immediate impact on the Bengals offensive line. That streak will be tested Sunday in a key AFC North matchup with the Baltimore Ravens (1 p.m., ET, CBS). The Ravens had 13 sacks after the first four weeks, and only seven teams had more.
Despite being a rookie, Mims has bolstered a Cincinnati front that has produced arguably the best blocking unit quarterback Joe Burrow has ever seen in his five-year NFL career. And after Mims’ first professional start, Cincinnati is still lucky to have him still on the board when the Bengals made the 18th pick.
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“He’s a big guy who moves better than 99.9 percent of other guys his size,” Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Bettcher said. “And there aren’t a lot of people walking this earth his size. He has all the tools.”
Even though he was bigger than all the other kids he played against, the coaches immediately realized that he was a unique talent. Rick Waters, who was one of Mims’ coaches for the youth, who ranged in age from about six to 12, said Mims was the only player to wear a redline who had a high level of physical fitness. To prevent him from being double-teamed at the line of scrimmage, he was a fullback on the defense, which allowed him to operate in space.
Opposing teams constantly wondered if Mims was playing at the right age. The Cochran-Bleakley County Recreation Department kept a copy of Mims’ birth certificate on file at the office. Eventually, his mother, Nikki Mims, also picked up one to answer questions from opposing teams.
“This kid was twice the size of everyone I played with, if not more than twice the size,” said Waters, who also runs Snow’s Asian Grill, where Mims Ho ordered the tri-tip steak and rice. “We get this question every time we play a new team.”
But what was never in doubt was how good of an athlete Amarius was. At Bleckley County High School, he played basketball but suffered a knee injury as a freshman that required surgery. He returned in time to start football for his second season.
Mims High School coach Vaughn Lassiter said Mims never argued about it and trusted the staff. The move was validated when Mims played left tackle in the state All-Star Game after his sophomore year and his recruiting stock skyrocketed.
“He got every offer in the country after that,” Lassiter said. “I mean, when that video of him playing left tackle came out, it was Georgia and Florida the next day and it was just over. Everybody in the nation was.”
He signed with Georgia but had a limited sample size despite playing for the best program in the country. He was a reserve his first two seasons and then missed six games his junior season with an ankle injury. In three college seasons, he made just eight starts.
But the lack of game footage is why the Bengals felt he would be available when they were on the clock during the draft.
“It’s as rare as it can be for a young player to come into the league,” Duke Tobin, the Bengals’ director of player personnel, said at the team’s annual media luncheon in July. “I look and say to myself: We caught him when he was 18?” “This is usually what the top three, four or five choices look like when they walk into your building.”
Throughout offseason practices and training camp, he was named the starting right tackle. But after suffering a pectoral injury after the preseason opener, veteran Trent Brown filled that role until Brown suffered a torn patellar tendon in a Week 3 loss to the Washington Commanders.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said one of the reasons Mims has been able to adapt so well is his desire to coach and understanding that he doesn’t have all the answers.
Mims stood out on his team of 12 kids, even as a 10-year-old. He had to play against older kids and was still dominant. Courtesy Rick Waters
In his short time in the league, he absorbed knowledge from Brown and left tackle to Orlando Brown Jr. — both of whom are 6-8, like Mims.
“You don’t understand,” Mims said with a laugh before his first start. “They’ve made life so much easier for me. I don’t even know how to put it into words, man. I owe them the world.”
In his first start, Bettcher said Mims had his ups and downs facing Panthers defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, a former No. 1 pick with 53.5 career sacks. But the pitcher gave Mims credit for the way he played in the 34-24 win, Cincinnati’s first win of the season.
Burrow praised how well the offensive line played. This year, Burrow has been pressured on 19.5% of his dropbacks, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Before this season, that rate averaged 32.2%.
After the win over Carolina, Mims singled out how well he did in his first start.
“To get that performance against a rushing player like [Clowney] “He was impressive. He’s going to keep getting better,” Burrow said.
Mims’ improvement since entering the league was noticeable in his first trip home.
In the offseason, he went to practice at Bleckley County and talked to Lassiter about playing offensively and some things that might help his old high school team. Then he and his coach went to Sugarberry’s for a lunch buffet (Snow’s is closed on Mondays).
No matter how tall Mims actually was, Lassiter could see the 21-year-old still growing.
“It’s as if this child has grown so much and not just physically; [but] “He’s learning mentally,” Lassiter said. “He understands the fronts, he understands the calls, he understands what’s going on. I’m very proud of him.”
