Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots , we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.
Today, we pivot to one of the newest players on the roster in punter Ryan Rehkow. The Bengals brought in Rehkow not even two weeks ago, and it's looking like he'll have an actual shot at making the initial 53. It's time to learn more about him.
Ryan Rehkow
- Age: 25
- Year: 1st
- Position: Punter
- College: BYU
- Previous Teams: Kansas City Chiefs
- Jersey Number: 8
Rehkow (pronounced Ree-co) signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent following the 2024 NFL Draft. He spent four playing years at BYU, and served a full-time mission in London, England from 2017-19 before starting school. He was the #1 rated high school kicker to come out of Washington in 2016, but he punted as well as kicked field goals. BYU had him punting full-time starting as a freshman in 2020, and he kept the job for all four years.
In 2021, Rehkow achieved career-bests in yards per punt (48.8), net average (42.8), and hang-time (4.21). This included an 83-yard punt which set a new BYU modern-day record. He was a Ray Guy Award Watchlist honoree for the season, as he was in 2022 and 2023.
For his final season in 2023, Rehkow punted a career-most 68 times for an average of 48.4 yards per punt (net average of 41.7). His total average led the Big 12, and was second in the entire country. He earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors and was a Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year honorable mention.
Rehkow spent a month with Chiefs after signing as a UDFA, but was released in June. Kansas City had signed Matt Ariza in February, and when it became clear he was the team's preference at the position, Rehkow became a free agent once more. The Bengals signed Rehkow two days after the start of training camp to help fill out the 90-man roster. He shared reps with fellow rookie UDFA Austin McNamara behind incumbent Brad Robbins for the first two weeks of practice. McNamara was waived by Cincinnati earlier this week, leaving just Robbins and Rehkow on the roster to compete for the job.
Contract details
Rehkow signed a one-year free agent deal with the Bengals in July that will pay him the minimum salary for the 2024 season.
Rehkow's salary will cost $795,000, which also represents his cap hit, if he's kept on the team for the entire regular season.
Roster chances
I'm doing this overview of Rehkow because he has the best chance out of any player the Bengals have recently added to make the 53-man roster. McNamara's departure creates a classic punter's duel between the rookie Rehkow and the second-year incumbent Robbins.
And it's hard to deny Rehkow's momentum towards snatching the job.
The fact that he was added at all to give the team three punters should've been telling enough. He may've been a target of Cincinnati's right after the draft but Kansas City signed him first. Perhaps McNamara wasn't doing enough to push Robbins during OTAs and minicamp. Maybe he was simply the best 90th player the Bengals could've added in late July.
Whatever the case may be, I feel inclined to give him the slight edge over Robbins right now. He's got a strong right leg and should impress in the preseason.
Chances of making the roster: 52%
Previous player breakdowns
Related: Bengals Roster Breakdown: Brad Robbins will be feeling the pressure after every punt in training camp
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