The Bengals have re-signed P Ryan Rehkow to a 2 year deal.
Rehkow was an ERFA, meaning that the Bengals held his exclusive negotiation rights. This deal, as a result, was never one that was going to be complex or difficult to get done.
Rehkow was a rookie undrafted free agent last season. After originally signing with the Kansas City Chiefs following the draft, he was scooped up by the Bengals later in the offseason, after being cut by the Chiefs.
Slated to face competition from Brad Robbins and Austin McNamara, Rehkow quickly ended up at the top of the depth chart. McNamara was cut early on into camp, and Robbins suffered an injury that allowed Rehkow to be the unquestioned guy entering the regular season.
The rookie quickly made an impression, showing off his strong leg. After week 1, he had set an NFL single game record for yards per punt, with 64.5 (with a minimum of 4 attempts). He also recorded the longest punt in Bengals franchise history, booming one for 80 yards.
But it wasn’t just the flashes that won the team over. Rehkow was kicking with consistency. This wasn’t only the case on the long, field flipping punts, but also the directional ones. Once an area of improvement for him as a draft prospect, Rehkow’s hang time, directional punting and ability to pin teams deep were also on display for much of the season. As a result, when Robbins was cleared to return, the Bengals released him from the injured list, meaning that Rehkow had won the job in full.
For the first time in the post Kevin Huber era, the Bengals can confidently say that they have their guy at punter.
