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Memories of Ryan Whalen

He was a Bengal from 4/30/11 to 8/25/14.

By BALCO Blue Bombers
The last game Whalen was in a Bengals uniform.
The last game Whalen was in a Bengals uniform.
Christian Petersen

Ryan Whalen was finally released by the Bengals on August 25. He was a sixth-round pick out of Stanford in 2011. From 2011 through 2013, from the 2011 draft class, only him, A.J. Green, Andy Dalton, and Clint Boling were full-time members of the 53-man roster.

Dontay Moch was on the roster for all of 2011, but was out for 2012 and eventually was on and off with the team. Robert Sands, Korey Lindsey, and Jay Finley amounted to nothing. In comparison, Whalen had a relatively nice run with the Bengals. From April 2011 until recently, Whalen even had Terrell Owens' old locker.

So kudos, Ryan, for being able to hang onto the 53-man roster for so long considering your late-round draft status and your relatively loaded position group.

Anyway, here's a Twitter look at his football career.

He can lift:

He was one of Andrew Luck's best receivers:

At the 2011 NFL Combine for WR, Ryan Whalen had the highest Wonderlic score, and A.J. Green had the lowest (goes to show you its value):

Whalen is smart, though. He was an Academic All-American.

His rookie year, he got a good amount of playing time:

He even had two receptions in the 31-10 playoff loss at Houston.

He's a California boy:

This was his last reception as a Bengal, a big third-down catch at the Steelers about 16 months ago. It was the best play of his Bengals career, a 6-yard grab while taking a hit:

He does what needs to be done:

He uses cryotherapy:

If only he could display this on the field in a real NFL game...

EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.

He made Rex Burkhead's day:

He had the grand opportunity of standing between our two offensive franchise cornerstones. How awesome is that!

Whalen left us with one parting gift: he was likely a factor why we were able to sign fellow Stanford Cardinal player Ryan Hewitt, who has quickly become our starting H-back (this tweet was over two months before the draft and UDFA period):

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