Bengals Training Camp Preview: Special Teams
Players:
2. Evan McPherson (K)
4. Ryan Rehkow (P)
48. Cal Adomitis (LS)
46. William Wagner (LS)
The Bengals enter training camp with little going on at the kicking positions. McPherson did have his struggles last season, but his overall résumé is clearly too good to just cut bait with him all of a sudden. He is reportedly making some technical tweaks, and will be looking to re-find the consistency that he had earlier in his career. With no other kickers on the roster, his spot is not in jeopardy at all.
Rehkow’s spot is also safe. He was originally signed as a UDFA by the Kansas City Chiefs last year, but they cut him before camp even began. The Bengals then scooped him up, while cutting their own UDFA punter, Austin McNamara. He was set to compete with Brad Robbins for the job. However, Robbins suffered an injury, which allowed Rehkow to enter the season as the guy. Well, he took the job and never looked back, quickly turning heads with his booming punts. The Bengals waived Robbins later in the season, once he was healthy. Now, Rehkow faces no competition, as there is no other punter on the roster. He’s locked into his spot.
Unlike with the kickers, the long snapper position will feature a competition. Cal Adomitis has been the starter since replacing Clark Harris a couple of years ago. He hasn’t really done anything wrong, but with the kicking struggles last season, you could place some blame on the whole unit, rather than just McPherson.
The Bengals brought in rookie UDFA William Wagner to compete with Adomitis. However, Wagner was the perfect model for consistency in college, as he had some inaccurate snaps show up from time to time. My guess is that the signing was more so to keep everyone on their toes. As long as Adomitis doesn’t commit any glaring errors, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t retain his job.
