Punter Ryan Rehkow turned heads as a rookie in Cincinnati last season.
Rehkow's set Bengals single-season records and led all rookie in both gross punting average (49.1) and net average (42.9). He also set an NFL single-game record with 64.5 yards per punt (minimum four attempts) and set a Bengals team record for longest punt (80 yards) in his professional debut.
He was recently rewarded with a two-year contract extension as a result of his productive play, and now that he has some long-term security, he's aiming to be even better in 2025. Specifically, he wants to get better when it comes to pinning teams deep inside their own territory with his booming kicks.
Ryan Rehkow plans to build off of impressive rookie campaign
"I want to improve directionally. Just cutting the field in half, forcing the returners to make a good play," Rehkow said. "Because our coverage does a great job. They fly down the field setting the gunners up and the protection just to cover as well as possible.
"Pinning teams back. We can pin them inside the 20 a lot, but now let's pin them inside the 10 and really lengthen the field on them. That's an area I know I'm capable of being more efficient and I want to make sure when I come back it's really dialed in."
Rehkow also plans to work on his holding on extra point and field goal attempts at the behest of Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons, who thinks that Rehkow has the potential to be even better than he was throughout his first season.
"Probably like a six out of a 10 in terms of where it can be," Simmons says. "He does some things that are very, very appealing. He's just kind of scratching the surface. ... "He's got a big ceiling."
The Bengals have a plethora of questions to answer on both offense and defense over the offseason, but at least the team has its key special teams contributors in place. Kicker Evan McPherson signed a three-year contract extension before the '24 season, and now Rehkow also got his extension. That's one less area that Cincinnati has to worry about in the coming months.