Rey Rey Brings the Pain

With the draft rapidly approaching, let's take a look back at one of the highly touted and drafted players of the past year: Rey Maualuga. Rey was one of the most physically intimidating linebackers of the draft with his long Samoan hair and tatoos coupled with a tenacious style on the field which earned him the title of the nation's best linebacker. Like so many other awards in college, it did not carry much weight when evaluating players for the professional level and he fell from the first round watching his college teammates Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews and rival James Laurinaitis all get drafted before him where the Bengals were waiting with open arms in the second round.

Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer believed they had found the perfect hammer for Zim's aggressive defensive style. A neck stinger kept him out of some early training camp time but it did not prevent him from getting on the field early. Having played the Mike his entire life he had to transition to the strong side as Dhani Jones anchored the middle and served as primary signal caller. But as Lippincott's shorts already alluded to earlier, football players are interchangeable or to go with cliches "a football player is a football player." Add to that the "I am getting no respect" chip on the shoulder and that all equates to a highly motivated football player.

Despite his plummet to the second round, expectations were high for the youngster who was touted to be a game changing player. He logged 63 tackles, 1 sack, and 3 forced fumbles. His forced fumble in the Packers game was crucial to the team getting the win. While he made some big plays, he also would get caught out of position to frequently and missed some tackles. A prevailing idea surrounding Rey coming out was that Matthews and Cushing covered up a lot of his deficiencies at SC. His high octane style some criticized as out of control and while he got the publicity, his teammates made the superior plays. Matthews registered 51 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 10 sacks on his season while Brian Cushing was a dominant force racking up 134 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 4 interceptions, and 5 sacks. Clearly, Maualuga had less impact plays than his pals from SC but that does not mean that he wasn't just as valuable.


His energy was unparalleled and he blitzed with fury. His high motor often got him to make plays at and around the line of scrimmage. His tenacity also sometimes had him out of position. He needs to improve on technique coming off the edge but his whole life up until now he had been shooting gaps in the middle. He lacks elite top end speed and sometimes struggled in covering the RB out of the backfield. All in all, his performance was that fitting of a productive 2nd round draft pick. He had his shortcomings but was stout in the run game. At the same time, he was not nearly as impressive as the men that broadcast the games would have you think failing to dominate games like his counterpart Cushing.

He needs to continue to improve and increase impact plays to be the player the Bengals desperately need. One can only hope that he recovers completely from his broken ankle without sequelae. Other media types will also play the bullshit character angle since his DUI but I'm not buying into that. He was involved in drunken altercations at SC, grinded on an unsuspecting Erin Andrews, and now has his most recent DUI when he was driving some teenage girls. None of that really impacts his ability to play football unless it results in a suspension and ultimately he's a young guy that was probably in the wrong place at wrong time.

All of you probably have friends you would classify as a meathead. Someone who inevitably acts like a brutish moron when drunk. I think it's safe to assume that Rey has a large meathead quotient and when he gets wasted he probably wants to arm wrestle and puff out his chest a bit. He's made some bad decisions and I am sure he has learned from them. What we all can only hope for is that he learned more from his mistakes on the field. With the schedule for the upcoming season set, the team needs a big year from Rey Rey.