The Cincinnati Bengals and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons neatly wrapped up the punter battle before Week 5 by releasing Brad Robbins after he returned from injury.
It wasn’t a hard move to see coming, not after a fantastic start to the season by rookie Ryan Rehkow.
Speaking with reporters before the upcoming game against the Baltimore Ravens, Simmons detailed the main reason the team went with Rehkow.
“He has on multiple occasions, been able to dig us out of a hole,” Simmons said, according to CLNS Media’s Mike Petraglia. “From a field position standpoint, is a huge, huge, huge factor for us. I think obviously you could see this. Everybody can see it. He came here with leg talent, and that’s something I can’t coach. And the ball just gets small when he hits it sometimes when it goes up in the air. I’ve not seen anybody can hit the ball as high and as far as he can, the combination. I’ve seen guys can get the ball higher. I can see guys can hit the ball far. But to do the combination of is pretty rare.”
Rehkow had a historic Week 1, prompting us to suggest that he ended the punter battle in one go. His surprisingly good season has only continued from there.
So it goes in the NFL — Robbins seemed to have a handle on the starting job before suffering an injury that carried over into the season. While Robbins was automatically designated to return, Rehkow had taken the utmost advantage of the situation to show he’s a core piece of Simmons’ unit that won’t be changing.
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