Covered in elaborate Polynesian tribal tattoos with a wild mane of hair screaming down the middle of his back, Rey Maualuga looks like anything but a simple man.

But simplicity is exactly what the Cincinnati Bengals are looking for from their middle linebacker in 2012, something that didn’t come easy for Maualuga when he moved inside last year to replace Dhani Jones.

“In the offseason we talked a lot about how we can help him to become a better player, and one of the things is to not be so complicated with him,” Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said. “Dhani Jones was a good player for us. He knew what everybody did on every single play and wanted to tell them what to do. Rey is not Dhani Jones. He’s tried to be Dhani Jones, but he doesn’t need to do that. He just needs to know what he does.”

It’s a change Maualuga is embracing as he enters the final season of the four-year contract he signed in 2009 after the Bengals drafted him out of USC in the second round, 38^th overall.

“I can’t worry about anything else,” he said. “Just focus solely on getting to the football. If I do that, then I will make a lot of people happy.”

Maualuga said he knows there are some Bengals fans, and maybe some team executives, who don’t feel as though he has lived up to the potential he showed at USC, especially when compared to his Trojans teammates at linebacker who were first-round picks in 2009.

Brian Cushing was the AFC Rookie Defensive Player of the Year and made the Pro Bowl for the Houston Texans in 2009, while Clay Matthews is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Year who led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl title in 2010.

“It’s in the back of my head every single time,” Maualuga said. “Everyone talks about my other fellow companions that have been very successful in the league, Brian and Clay. (They say) where is that guy we thought we drafted from SC?”

Maualuga did set a career-high with 115 tackles last year despite missing three games with an ankle injury that continued to affect his play even after he returned for the final eight games of the regular season.

He admits he played tentative, wondering if the ankle would give out again. But he said the ankle has held up through training camp and he’s healthy, confident and excited entering a contract year that, like himself, is anything but simple.

“Yeah, it is a big year for me,” he said. “No excuses, no BS, just go out there and play football. If everything works out in my favor, hopefully I return. I don’t see myself playing for any other team, but that is what happens with football. You don’t know where you are going to end up. I don’t know.”

Maualuga admitted he watched the entire NFL Draft this year for the first time in his life, expecting the Bengals to select his replacement. When they didn’t, he took it as a vote of confidence and a renewed chance to live up to the expectations everyone had when he came out of college.

When asked about those expectations, Maualuga paused and then said, “I’m not Jesus. I’m not Superman. I am just going to be the best football player Rey can be.”

It doesn’t get much simpler that that.