Tag: Brad Robbins

Bengals coach reveals what decided punter battle

The punter battle for the Bengals is very, very over.

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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Bengals special teams coordinator wants competition in punter room

A punter competition seems to be on the way for the Bengals.

Since the Cincinnati Bengals parted ways with long-time punter Kevin Huber, they have had some struggles in that area with younger players like Drue Chrisman and Brad Robbins.

Robbins remains on the roster currently, but special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons wants to bring a veteran in to give Robbins some competition going into the season, but it will depend on what they can do with the salary cap they have left to use at that point.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into that. There’s the salary cap that we have to deal with and sometimes we haven’t had as much room to do that and you have a potential for some savings with everybody going the younger route if they have a chance to develop,” Simmons said to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “It’s easy to always say there’s a veteran player that’s available and that’s easy for me to say, too. But sometimes that’s not always feasible for our team or what’s best for our team.”

Simmons did say that he believes in Robbins, they wouldn’t still have him on the roster otherwise, but after his rookie season was a bit shaky at times they want to try to force the former sixth round pick to improve in a competition.

Signing another punter wouldn’t necessarily mean the Bengals are going to move on from Robbins, but it does give them options at the position.

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Should Bengals consider signing Tommy Townsend?

A Chiefs free agent could help the Bengals this offseason.

After 14 seasons of Kevin Huber keeping the punting game mostly consistent for the Cincinnati Bengals, there were some struggles at the position with Drue Chrisman and 2023 rookie Brad Robbins getting a chance.

The Bengals drafted Robbins with their sixth-round pick in last year’s draft, but he didn’t perform like they hoped he would for the most part.

Now after the Kansas City Chiefs signed Matt Araiza, it seems as if they won’t be re-signing their punter Tommy Townsend.

Over the past four seasons, Townsend has been one of the better punters in the league for the Chiefs and has proven he belongs on an NFL roster, earning first-team All-Pro in 2022 and a Pro Bowl appearance.

Throughout his career, he has averaged 47.4 yards per punt and has had 80 punts inside the 20-yard line, doing so 40.8 percent of the time. He had 20 punts inside the 20 last season, which was the same number as Robbins, but Robbins punted 17 more times than Townsend did.

Robbins has only had one year in the NFL, so he could turn into the player the Bengals hoped he would be with time, but with Townsend about to hit free agency, they should consider signing him to compete with Robbins next season.

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New Bengals punter Brad Robbins shows appreciation for Kevin Huber

Bengals rookie Brad Robbins thanks an inspiration.

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Long-time Cincinnati Bengals punter Kevin Huber officially announced his retirement on Twitter in a heartfelt message to fans Friday.

Brad Robbins, the Bengals newest punter they picked in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft, posted his own message to Twitter, to wish Huber a happy retirement.

“Happy Retirement to the man I looked up to as a kid just learning how to play the game,” Robbins said. “Cincinnati Legend. Thank you.”

Robbins was able to meet Huber to get advice from him, and hopes their relationship continues. Robbins also was provided with as much video of Huber as he could want but flipped so he could watch from the right foot perspective.

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Bengals 2023 player profile for P Brad Robbins

A 2023 profile for Bengals P Brad Robbins.

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The Cincinnati Bengals created competiton at the punter spot by taking Michigan’s Brad Robbins in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft.

As we continue to run down the list of names most impacting the 2023 season, here’s a look at Robbins’ profile before he heads into his rookie year.

 

Experience: Rookie (Round 6, 2023)

Age: 24

College:  Michigan

2022 PFF Grade: n/a

Numbers to Know: Just three total touchbacks over his last two college seasons.

Resume and Outlook: Robbins was basically a hangtime specialist in college, which happens to be where current starter Drue Chrisman struggles the most. If he picks up everything that comes with the job well this summer, including holding and other responsibilities, he might be the most obvious name to steal a starting job.

 

Other 2023 Bengals player profiles: 

Position Name
OL Jaxson Kirkland
DE Tarell Basham
RB Chris Evans
DE Jeff Gunter
P Brad Robbins

 

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Watch: Rookie Brad Robbins booms punts at Bengals practice

The punter battle for the Bengals is just getting underway.

One of the big talking points when the Cincinnati Bengals used an extra sixth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft on punter Brad Robbins was how impressive his hangtime was compared to others in the draft class.

It felt like a very calculated draft pick by the Bengals in that regard, given hangtime is one of the apparent weaknesses of current punter Drue Chrisman — which showed up at an especially bad moment during last season’s AFC title game.

At practice in Cincinnati this week, Robbins stood out for that exact reason, putting some downright booming hangtime on some of his punts while working out.

Dan Hoard caught the footage:

Plus, Mohammad Ahmad of Cleveland.com captured some of the other work Robbins put in before the punter battle really gets started this summer:

Keep in mind that while Robbins is a point of hype for fans, Chrisman sounds more than ready for that upcoming battle too.

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Brad Robbins will have long-time Bengal Kevin Huber as mentor

A cool Bengals connection for a rookie.

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Cincinnati Bengals sixth-round pick Brad Robbins out of Michigan will be getting some good guidance from Kevin Huber.

Geoff Hobson of the Bengals’ official website reported that Huber, who was the Bengals’ punter for 14 years, and Robbins have talked, and they are going to meet up with each other so Huber can be a mentor for the young Robbins.

Robbins wanted to be in Cincinnati and is going to be wearing number 10, the same number Huber wore all of his 14 years with the Bengals.

Hobson also said that Travis Brammer, the Bengals video director, is providing Robbins with all of the tape of Huber he could possibly want, flipping it over so he can watch from the right-foot perspective.

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Bengals’ Drue Chrisman ready for competition with Brad Robbins

It’s a punter showdown for the Bengals.

Like everyone else, Cincinnati Bengals punter Drue Chrisman knew a competition was coming this summer.

The Bengals made that idea a reality by taking Michigan’s Brad Robbins in the sixth round with an extra pick they acquired after a trade back earlier in the draft.

That sets up Robbins from Michigan against Chrisman from Ohio State as perhaps the only starting job up for grabs during training camp — and the latter says he’s ready, plus understands it makes things entertaining for fans.

“It doesn’t get better than that. It gives the fans something to look forward to. That’s Hollywood,” Chrisman said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Robbins is a great guy … I’m familiar with a lot of punters. It’s a small, tight-knit group. Kind of like quarterbacks. Everybody knows each other. There are a few out there that can do it at this high of a level and he’s certainly one of those guys. That’s why I looked forward to competing with him in college. He’s had the upper hand against lately up there at home and in Ann Arbor.”

It will certainly be interesting to watch over the summer considering Chrisman struggled with hangtime last season and that’s where Robbins seems to specialize.

No matter who wins, competition was inevitable as the Bengals look to still pick up the proverbial pieces at a position left up for grabs since Kevin Huber entered last season struggling.

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Did Bengals draft pick Brad Robbins think Zac Taylor was a prank-caller?

Hilarious footage shows Brad Robbins not really believing his draft-day call with Zac Taylor.

The Cincinnati Bengals have shared a ton of draft calls between head coach Zac Taylor and prospects they intend to draft.

It’s always heartwarming to see the candid conversations as prospects get informed they’re being selected. We got one for Myles Murphy. And one for DJ Turner, among others, too.

And then there’s the case of sixth-round punter Brad Robbins.

Robbins got the call from Taylor and in the footage provided by the team, it sure sounds like he thought he was being pranked. The “Oh, Zac Taylor, how’s it going?” response initially and the steady build-up to his explicit reaction sort of gives it away.

The hilarious call:

And Robbins potentially replying to it:

It would appear Bengals fans got a funny preview of their new punter’s personality, provided he can overcome Drue Chrisman in a competition for the job this summer.

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Where every Michigan football draftee ranked coming out of high school

Development-U!!!! #GoBlue

Michigan football had the second-most players (9) drafted in the 2023 NFL draft. Alabama and Georgia had 10 each.

The Wolverines had four players go during the first two days of the draft, and the maize and blue even had a kicker drafted in the third round. Jake Moody was the first kicker to get drafted in the first three rounds since 2016.

Not every Michigan player drafted this year was a star coming out of high school. Some were lower-rated players that got a great education and the coaching staff helped mold them into a star in college and an NFL player now.

We are going to go back in memory lane and show you where every player was ranked at coming out of high school before their Michigan career began. For this exercise, we are going to use the 247Sports composite rankings.