Fulcher stays connected to team, community
Former Cincinnati Bengals safety David Fulcher stays active in the local community through his “Mentoring Against Negative Actions” program working with Butler County prisoners, but he also has stayed connected to his old team.
The three-time Pro Bowl player serves as the Bengals’ uniform compliance officer, checking to make sure players from the home and visiting teams at Paul Brown Stadium are wearing the proper gear. Through that, he’s gotten to know the players well and enjoys being able to stay connected to the team that selected him in the third round of the 1986 draft.
Fulcher played for the Bengals until 1992, including his first Pro Bowl season in 1988 and an appearance in the Super
Bowl loss to the 49ers that year. He finished his career with the Raiders in 1993. The Mason resident took some time this week to talk about the state of the Bengals, current events and life after football.
Q: I know you’ve got your foundation that helps individuals with multiple sclerosis, but how else are you filling your time these days?
A: Well, for the last 23 years, I’ve been working with incarcerated men and women in Hamilton County. And I just started a year ago in Butler County. Sheriff Jones gave us an opportunity to go in there and just teach the common sense — and that’s what I do, I teach common sense. I talk to these young men and women. My wife now helps me, she works with me, she works with the women. We just talk to them about making better choices, putting other people’s needs before theirs. And that’s the kind of person I’ve been. I played a lot of football games, and I got a lot of money from playing football, but always put my money towards everybody else. It hasn’t changed. My time is for those who are incarcerated, and to get them out of the position they’re in, because they’ve got family members out there counting on them, kids, brothers and sisters, moms and dads, cousins that while they’re locked up, they can’t help nobody, but nobody, not even themselves. So one of the things I said when I did it 22 years ago was ‘how do I get into the jails so that I could say let me save somebody?’ You know, my goal is to save everybody, but not everybody wants to be saved.
Q: As a former safety, what do you think of Jessie Bates and now Vonn Bell joining the team?
A: I think that I’ve seen Jesse Bates grow, and he’s getting better. And I think it’s going to make his play a lot better now that Bell’s here. They got some players back there now that I think could help the defense a little bit better, because I think sometimes when you don’t get sacks, it’s because receivers are wide open, and if you can stop the receivers from getting open, I believe that you can put more pressure. And I think that’s what happened to the team last year. You know, too many receivers were open. They just got to get better and better comes with time playing and the knowledge of the game. Once you start getting more knowledge of it, you tend to be able to create things and make things happen the way I did. The older I got in the NFL, the wiser I got because I knew what I could do. I just knew the game and I went to places and did things that people say there’s no way he could do that, and it happened because of knowledge and preparation. And I think that those two guys in that secondary with the rest of those guys that they’ve added could be one of the biggest points on defense.
Q: Were you surprised how active the Bengals were in free agency and how will that help the defense, specifically?
A: Well, I would say it had been expected for so many years. The Bengals have a formula that they believe works for them, so they’re not going to change it, so they’ve been doing it for a very, very long time. And when they started, you know, going after free agents and started signing these players. Yeah, it was a shock. But I think they’re starting to believe that if we’re going to be able to compete with the rest of the league, we got to do what they do. And we have to go out and grab players, and they’re grabbing them. And I believe that in time, if they continue to keep doing this, other players around the league will want to come play for Cincinnati because players did not want to come to Cincinnati based off of how your management was run, the facility and all that stuff. But all that stuff has gotten better. Now Cincinnati is just part of the other 32 teams, and I think they’re going to be competitive as the year goes on. Hopefully we’ll have a football season that they can get a chance to compete. But, you know, I think they’re getting there.
Q: There’s a lot going on just between the pandemic and racial injustice now being brought more to light. What do you think about the discussion players are having about kneeling?
A: You know, if you’re kneeling because you are against the American flag, then you’re wrong. If you’re kneeling because you’re tired of the killings that are happening between police officers and everyday people, then you should say something about that. Is that the reason why you’re doing it?
You know, we have to find a solution to the problem, not add to the problem. If kneeling is adding to the problem, then we’re not doing anything. If kneeling is going to help the problem with some severity of getting it done then you do it. Myself personally, if I am not liking what’s happening in this world, I’m going to voice it with my mouth.
I’m not going to get out there and display something that everybody gets mad about. I’m gonna make something come about by me opening my mouth and making a comment. I’m not gonna discriminate against a person who kneels or who doesn’t kneel. But what’s your purpose? Speaking with your mouth, not just your knee.
And I think that is probably where we’ve missed it... because I don’t believe that people are kneeling to disrespect the flag. I think they’re kneeling because of the disruption that is going on in our country today.