“Amarius Mims from the Bengals plays a big role in OL”

CINCINNATI – The red stripe on his helmet might as well have been a neon warning sign.

At youth soccer fields near Cochran, Georgia, players of a certain size had a piece of red tape posted in the middle, indicating they were over the weight limit for ball carriers.

So if the ball ever found its way into the hands of Amarius Mims, it was game over. The risk of an impending collision with a smaller player outweighs any number of yards gained. And Mims played in an age group above him.

“I caught a pick once and had to just stand there,” Mims said.

Throughout his youth career, Mims was always an outlier due to his size. But with the Cincinnati Bengals, he is one of three 6-foot-8 offensive tackles. And that mammoth body, coupled with a rare blend of talent, has helped him make an immediate impact on the Bengals’ offensive line. That line will be tested on Sunday in a crucial AFC North matchup against the Baltimore Ravens (1 p.m., ET, CBS). The Ravens had 13 sacks after the first four weeks, only seven teams had more.

Despite being a rookie, Mims has anchored a Cincinnati front that has produced the best blocking unit quarterback Joe Burrow has ever had in his five-year NFL career. And after Mims’ first professional start, Cincinnati is still lucky that he was still on the board when the Bengals made the 18th pick.

“He’s a big man who moves better than 99.9 percent of other guys his size,” Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “And there aren’t that many people on this earth who are as tall as him. He has all the tools.”

Even though he was taller than all the other kids he played against, coaches immediately recognized that he was a unique talent. Rick Waters, one of Mims’ youth coaches ranging in age from about 6 to 12, said Mims was the only player to wear a red stripe and displayed a high level of athleticism. To prevent himself from being double-teamed at the line of scrimmage, he served as a defensive linebacker, which allowed him to operate in space.

Opposing teams constantly questioned whether Mims was playing at the right age. The Cochran-Bleckley County Recreation Department kept a copy of Mims’ birth certificate at the office. Finally, his mother, Nikki Mims, also wore 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 of them,” said Waters, who also runs Snow’s Asian Grill, where Mims’ favorite order is a triple steak and rice. “We got that question every time we played against a new team.”

However, there was no doubt about how good Amarius was as an athlete. He played basketball for two years at Bleckley County High until he broke his leg in two places. For the football team, he was a tight end his first two seasons, but then switched to offensive tackle because it was what the team needed.

Von Lassiter, Mims’ high school head coach, said Mims didn’t argue at all and trusted the staff. This move was validated when Mims played left tackle in a state all-star game after his sophomore year and his recruiting rate skyrocketed.

“After that, he got every offer in the country,” Lassiter said. “I mean, when that All-Star video came out of him playing left tackle, the next day it was Georgia and Florida and it was just over. It was everyone in the nation.”

He signed with Georgia but had a limited roster despite playing for the best program in the country. He was a reserve player his first two seasons and then missed six games of his junior season due to an ankle injury. He managed just eight starts in three college seasons.

But the lack of game snaps is why the Bengals felt he would be available when they were on the clock during the draft.

“He’s the rarest of young players 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 got him when he was 18?’ This is what a top three, four or five pick typically looks like when they walk into your building.”

He was used as the starting player during off-season workouts and training camp. But after suffering a pectoral injury following the preseason opener, veteran Trent Brown filled that role until Brown suffered a torn patellar tendon in a loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 3.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor said one of the reasons Mims was able to acclimate so well was his willingness to be coached and an understanding that he doesn’t have all the answers.

In his short time in the league, he has absorbed the knowledge of Brown and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. – both of whom, like Mims, have a 6-8 record.

“You don’t understand,” Mims said with a laugh before his first start. “You made my life so much easier. I don’t even know how to put it into words, man. I owe them the world.”

In his first start, pitchers said, Mims had his ups and downs against Panthers defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, a former No. 1 pick with 53.5 sacks in his career. But Pitcher praised Mims for his performance in the 34-24 victory, Cincinnati’s first win of the season.

And Burrow praised how well the offensive line played. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Burrow was pressured on 19.5% of his dropbacks this year. Before this season, that rate averaged 32.2%.

After the win over Carolina, he praised Mims for his good performance in his first start.

“To have that performance against a rusher like that [Clowney] “It was impressive,” Burrow said. “He’s just going to keep getting better.”

The progress Mims has made since entering the league was notable in his first trip home.

During the offseason, he attended a practice in Beckley County and spoke with Lassiter about offensive play and some things that could help his old high school team. Then he and his trainer went to Sugarberry’s for a buffet lunch (Snow’s is closed on Mondays).

And no matter how big Mims already is, Lassiter could see a 21-year-old who is still growing.

“It’s like, my goodness, this kid has grown so much and not just physically, [but] “Mentally, he’s learning,” Lassiter said. “He understands the fronts and he understands the calls and he understands what’s happening. “I’m just so proud of him.