Bengals don’t expect Clark Harris to return and compete with Cal Adomitis

Clark Harris might retire at 202 games, the fourth-most in team history.

Cincinnati Bengals special teams coorinator Darrin Simmons just sort of confirmed what most expected about a key component of his unit.

Speaking with reporters at the scouting combine, Simmons said that he doesn’t expect veteran long-snapper Clark Harris to come back and compete for the starting job, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.

The Bengals re-signed Cal Adomitis on February 22, signaling the complete shift to the younger player who took over after Week 1 last season and started the remainder of the year.

Harris had previously said he didn’t want to end his career on an injury, but the Bengals have signaled it will at least be a competition if he ends up deciding to come back and compete as opposed to retiring.

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Bengals re-sign Cal Adomitis

The Bengals make a notable roster move.

The Cincinnati Bengals have brought back long-snapper Cal Adomitis for another season. Cincinnati announced the move on Wednesday.

Adomitis, a college free agent out of Pittsburgh last season, was called into emergency duty in Week 2 after longtime veteran Clark Harris suffered a season-ending injury in the opener.

Over the course of 146 snaps, Adomitis didn’t have an unplayable delivery and gets a chance to start a full season in 2023.

After his injury, Harris said he didn’t want to retire on that note. At the very least, it will be a competition between the two next summers if Harris chooses to keep playing.

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Bengals update Drue Chrisman, Cal Adomitis roster battles

An update on Bengals special teams roster battles.

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Coming off the Super Bowl, the Cincinnati Bengals won’t have many notable roster battles this summer compared to most other teams.

But they will have some interesting showdowns on special teams.

There, second-year punter Drue Chrisman will challenge Kevin Huber and undrafted Cal Adomitis will challenge long-snapper Clark Harris.

Special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons recently talked about the challenges both guys face.

“Drue has to take what he does in individuals and carry it over to the work in team,” Simmons said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “It’s not what he does with me. The most important thing for him is doing it when the team is together.”

Chrisman had some hype from fans last year because he came from Ohio State. But the Bengals appeared to flirt with the idea of drafting a punter before bringing Huber back late in the process.

Adomitis was the most-hyped undrafted free agent for the Bengals. But Harris seems like a shoo-in to serve another season there, especially with the rookie still needing to learn some of the finer things about the NFL game.

“There’s more to being an NFL long snapper than just throwing it back there straight and looking pretty,” Simmons said. “You’ve got to get down and block people. It’s a greasy, grimy position to play and no one knows you until you screw up. You better do the job. The less notoriety the better.”

Even if both guys don’t end up making the final 53, it’s clear they’re in the conversation and could be part of the plan in upcoming years.

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Bengals’ Clark Harris happy to mentor UDFA Cal Adomitis

The veteran is more than happy to mentor the guy who could end up replacing him.

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NFL players being iffy on serving as a mentor for their possible replacement has been an interesting discussion as of late.

Not in Cincinnati Bengals land.

Clark Harris, the long-snapper heading into his 16th pro season and 13th on the NFL’s most games played list (201), says he has no issues being a mentor to undrafted free agent Cal Adomitis.

“I’m not going to be a (jerk) about it. Like ‘Figure it out yourself,'” Harris said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’ve been here 16 years. If someone is going to be better than me … It’s not like it would be a waste of time and it was like ‘There’s no helping this guy.'”

That’s a great thing for the Bengals — Cal Adomitis was one of the team’s most-hyped undrafted free agents.

Harris says the most he’ll play is two more seasons. He also views Adomitis as a guy capable of replacing him. The only problem is whether other teams will let it happen — he’ll presumably land on the practice squad at best with Harris still around, so other teams could attempt to claim him if he isn’t protected.

Either way, Harris is yet another example of the leadership-based locker room culture the Bengals have worked hard to create.

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