Willie Anderson, the Bengals all-time right tackle opposite Muñoz, leads modern era candidates such as running back Corey Dillon and wide receiver Chad Johnson.
"It's an honor to be nominated with guys like that," Anderson says of The Ring. "We all know guys like Ken Anderson and Ken Riley should be in (the Ring of Honor) and the Hall of Fame, too. Hopefully, the Ring brings the profile up for everyone."
A handful of players from that '88 team that wooed a junior high Anderson fittingly join him on the Ring ballot in a vote of season ticket holders that ends June 18. The future voice of offensive linemen was not yet aware of players such as Munoz and Pro Bowl right guard Max Montoya or defenders such as Tim Krumrie, David Fulcher and Reggie Williams.
But he was watching.
"I liked what every kid likes. Offense," Anderson says. "Two (basically) 1,000-yard rushers, a quarterback that threw the ball all over the field, a fast-paced offense, a good offensive line. At 13 years old, you're looking for fun and they were a fun team to watch. The league back then was a slow league and when you're going that fast in a no huddle offense throwing the ball like that and you're able to run the ball like that, that was fun."
Fast forward the no huddle eight years and the architect of 21st century football, Sam Wyche, had just been replaced in Tampa Bay by young defensive guru Tony Dungy. As Dungy prepared to make his first draft pick of a Hall of Fame coaching career, he phoned Anderson getting ready for his mother's draft day party. He took a break from mowing the lawn and heard Dungy asking him if he was ready to be a Buc.
"Yes sir," the 20-year-old Anderson said.
But Tampa was picking No. 12 and the Bengals weren't budging. They had staked out Anderson so early that at the NFL scouting combine two months before the draft, Bengals president Mike Brown informed The Cincinnati Enquirer as he was crossing an Indianapolis street that Anderson was their man.
"He was like Anthony in the sense that you knew he would block his guy and you didn't have to worry about it," Brown will say now.
Anderson is passing it on the best way he can. Hunched over the ground, his mind going as fast as his hands and feet, not to mention the Twitter feed he sends out the big-time advice he never had so readily.
"He was a great pass protector and not because he's a big guy, but because he was so efficient with his hands," says Zeke Correll, born the same year as Paul Brown Stadium. "That's what he focuses on a lot. Also his footwork in the run game and that gritty mindset of being able to take your man from point A to point B to get the ball moving."
Get used to seeing more of Anderson, because 25 years later he's still moving between points.
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