“It’s just like the truck might get a flat tire, but all you got to do is change the tire, put the truck back on the road,” Slaton said Thursday in his introductory press conference. “It like ain’t nothing going to go wrong because you got the truck. So I don’t know. That’s what they called me, so I just try to keep going.”
Slaton said former Packers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell gave him that nickname two years ago because of how durable he proved to be.
The Packers drafted him in the fifth round in 2021, and Slaton didn’t miss a game in four seasons. He earned a starting job in Year 3 and started every game the past two seasons, playing about 47.5 percent of the defensive snaps.
“I just like playing the game of football and I just like being available,” Slaton said. “I’ve seen guys going through ups and downs in their careers and trying to keep them from going off the deep end with their mindset and everything. But I just feel like with me, I just go out there and play football. I try to play fast so I don’t get hurt, and I am not really thinking about it. But at the end of the day, I just think I’m just a big truck.”
The 27-year-old didn’t initially realize his first defensive line coach, Jerry Montgomery, had joined the Bengals’ coaching staff in that same role this offseason after he had left Green Bay for New England in 2024.
When free agency came around and Slaton heard the Bengals were interested, he knew he had to keep them on his board.
“It was really important because he set the tone for my career,” Slaton said. “He was the first coach that I had, so I feel like he knows me better than a lot of other coaches around the league and what I need to keep progressing as a player and keep getting better because he set the standard for me as a player. So, I felt like that was a good decision for me and also just be back with a coach that you started with.”
Slaton agreed to terms on the first day of “legal tampering” and arrived in Cincinnati for a physical and to sign the contract Thursday.
Although it was his first time getting the full tour of the facilities, Slaton had been there before, first as a rookie in 2021 when the Packers played the Bengals in a Week 5 game. Slaton recorded his first career half-sack, on Joe Burrow, and his team walked away winners on a 49-yard field goal in overtime after the teams combined to miss five field goal attempts late in the game.
Slaton also had been to Cincinnati for a joint practice with the Bengals last year and liked the competitive attitude he saw from the players. Since signing Thursday, he’s felt right at home.
“It felt good,” Slaton said. “It felt like a goal was accomplished, so I feel good about that. … My energy just keeps building so I feel like this is going to be a really good fit and probably a place for more in the future.”
With Montgomery as his coach, Slaton believes he will be put in “positions to be great.” He’s prepared for the tall task of stopping physical running games in the AFC North, and this offseason, Slaton plans to continue to work on things he needs to do to become more involved in the pass rush.
The Bengals are in need of more push from the interior in the pass defense as well, and while much of that will need to come from returning defensive tackle B.J. Hill, Slaton wants to be a more well-rounded player and that is one area he can improve.
Slaton ultimately wants to do whatever he can to help the Bengals compete for championships.
“Even from the outside looking in, you always felt like the Bengals was going to do something, so coming in and being a part of that makes you feel even better because then now you feel like you got a chance to contribute to that,” Slaton said. “My rookie year, I watched them make it to the Super Bowl, so that is what the goal is today to get back there and win it.”
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