Vincent Rey, the old Marvin Lewis linebacker, can tell you about the dog days of August and those last precious and few roster spots.
Rey, undrafted and undaunted out of Duke 15 years ago, didn't get one his rookie year and had to come off the practice squad late in 2010 to make his NFL debut. But as Lewis would always say, it's not how you get here, but what you do when you do get here.
He won a job the next year and even before he was done in 2018 with the most Bengals games played at linebacker in this century with 128, the good folks at his alma mater established an award in his name to recognize the school's top linebacker.
Here's how the NFL's dog days can chase each other's tails in circles.
With spots up for grabs in the Bengals' new-look linebackers room of 2025, two Vincent Rey Award winners are looking to replicate his path to the roster with a brew of scrimmage savvy and special teams athleticism.
On Thursday night in the preseason opener, Joe Giles-Harris, the Rey winner in 2017 and 2018, had the Bengals' lone takeaway and nearly turned it into a pick-six while adding a tackle on special teams. Shaka Heyward, the 2020 winner, had a team-high five tackles and threw in an assist on special teams.
And Maema Njongmeta, who couldn't win the Rey because he went to Wisconsin but made it last year as a college free agent, was graded Pro Football Focus' second-highest Bengal on defense against the Eagles.
That's a tractor-pull of a competition. How many spots behind Logan Wilson, Demetrius Knight Jr., Barrett Carter, and Oren Burks is up to head coach Zac Taylor. Vinny Rey knows the way.
A few days ago, Rey stood on the sidelines watching special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons direct his portion of practice. As team chaplain, he's a recognizable and soothing figure around the club.
"As long as you follow what the coaches say, take every day by itself, play as hard as you can, and put good things on tape," Rey said, "good things happen."
Giles-Harris, 28, a veteran of 22 games with three different teams in five seasons, had never met Rey until he signed as a Bengals free agent a few weeks before this April's draft. And that was after spending a week on the Bengals practice squad late last season.
"But I had heard every story imaginable from college," Giles-Harris says after practice. "All the time they would tell us why we weren't Vinny Rey. He was the standard. You wanted to be Vinny Rey in all aspects. As a human being and as a football player. He did it the right way."
So when Giles-Harris met him, he was delighted to see they hadn't made up some fictional Duke superhero.
"Great guy to get to know. We've talked, and it's just cool getting to know him and hearing his story," Giles-Harris said.
Rey's story that he passes on is that half of his 50 starts came during a stretch the Bengals won two AFC North titles and went to five straight postseasons.
"One of the toughest things for me about being a backup was that you always had to be ready. It didn't matter," Rey said. "Because when you went in for the starter, there could be no drop off. At any moment."
What Giles-Harris discovered once he got here is that he and Rey grew up 45 minutes away from each other across New York City's water; Rey in Far Rockaway and Giles-Harris in Nyack.
"I had no idea. Really ironic," Giles-Harris said. "It's been like this since I've been playing. Everywhere you go, you meet great people. I played with Lucas (Patrick) for a year at Duke, and I played with Shaka for a year. Just having Vinny here is a great resource."
Like Giles-Harris, Patrick arrived in the spring as a free agent. Heyward also needed no introductions. While he red-shirted at Duke, Giles-Harris was in his last year on campus.
Heyward had to wait a year in the pros, but, like Rey, came off the practice squad last season to make an impact on special teams. His first six NFL games came in the last seven weeks of a playoff push, and it will be recalled he forced a fumble on a punt return in the must-win finale in Pittsburgh.
Heyward and Njongmeta, along with Wilson, are the only guys left in the room. They drafted Knight in the second round, Carter in the fourth, and signed the vet Burks off his Super Bowl start for the Eagles. Then came the 6-2, 234-pound Giles-Harris. Not exactly unknown by new linebackers coach Mike Hodges and defensive coordinator Al Golden.
As linebackers coaches in the league when Giles-Harris came undrafted out of Duke in 2019, they have their reports. They said that Giles-Harris gives them not only athleticism at different spots, but experience for a young and revamped room.
"He's a smart player. He can play multiple spots. He's a veteran player. So he knows what it takes," Taylor said after the Philly game. "He's played with good physicality. He's helped us with special teams. There's really good competition in that linebacker room. I'm really pleased with the direction all those guys are headed … I've been pleased with what Joe's done for us in camp."
Giles-Harris has been in Jacksonville, Buffalo, and New England. He likes what Golden and Hodges have brewing with this scheme.
"I love it. It's free. You can play free," Giles-Harris said. "It's really simple. You can get after it.
'There's a lot of competition in the room. It makes it fun. You have to show up every day."
Which is exactly how he won the Vinny Rey and it's how Vinny Rey won his Bengals roster spot. Giles-Harris smiled when asked exactly what is a Vinny Rey linebacker.
"Smart and reliable," Giles-Harris said as he caught the Clemson rookie Carter staring at him.
The vet came through.
"You lost to Duke, right?" asked Giles-Harris, knowing full well the answer.
"Yes," Carter said.
"Just checking," said the smart and reliable Vinny Rey award-winner.
