Special teams needs return threat

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

As he looks ahead to his sixth season as Bengals special teams coach, Darrin Simmons sees a major need.

"We've got to have a legitimate guy returning kicks who can put fear into the other team's heart," Simmons said this week from Mobile, Ala., where he was part of the Bengals’ contingent scouting practices at the Senior Bowl college all-star game.

"There are several guys down here who flash. They have the ability to run. You want a guy who can really, really run."

Simmons pointed to division rival Baltimore’s investment of a third-round draft pick last year in return specialist Yamon Figurs. Figurs averaged 24.7 yards on 46 kickoff returns. He had a 94-yard touchdown.

"He helped them win games," Simmons said of Figurs. "We need somebody like that."

For the second season in a row, wide receiver Tab Perry, the team's No. 1 kickoff return man, was lost for most of the schedule with injury. And for the second year in a row, former rookie free agent Glenn Holt returned kickoffs. He was 16th in the NFL – just one spot behind Figurs – with a 24.-3-yard average and one touchdown.

"Glenn is what he is," Simmons said. "He had a pretty good year. You can't put the football on the ground."

Holt lost two fumbles on kickoff returns. Most damaging was his gaffe at the end of the three-point loss in Week 3 at Seattle.

Simmons was less pleased with the punt return production. Wide receivers Skyler Green and Antonio Chatman combined for a 4.9-yard average – last in the NFL – on 27 returns. Ideal is a return man gifted on both kickoffs and punts.

"You save on a roster spot if it's one guy," Simmons said. "We need to find somebody."

The Bengals were 17th in both covering kickoffs and punts. Both rankings were the result of improvement through a schedule which started with coverage units almost crippled by injuries at linebacker and safety.

In the blur of details that is an NFL season, and though he has yet to begin to breakdown the Bengals' performance in the kicking game, Simmons has one number seared in his mind.

The opening kickoff coverage team in the Week 3 at Seattle consisted of seven players who were not on the roster the year before and four – running back Clifton Dawson, cornerback David Jones and linebackers Dhani Jones and Anthony Schlegel – who weren’t even with the team a month earlier at training camp.

"We were pretty devastated by injuries," Simmons said. "It was no big secret. We had no continuity. It hurt our team early in the year. We had no ability to control field position. We didn’t make plays to help us. We were giving up plays that hurt us."

Simmons appreciated how his coverage players persevered.

"They understood what their role was," he said. "Whether they were on another team or on the street (as a free agent) the light comes on when the phone isn’t ringing off the hook (with job offers)."

Besides a dangerous kick return specialist, Simmons is looking for healthy athletes in 2008.

Second-year safety Ethan Kilmer, who was second as a rookie in 2006 with 18 tackles on special teams, was lost for the season after undergoing knee surgery in August.

"One of our top players," Simmons said of Kilmer.
S
afety Herana-Daze Jones, who ended up leading special teams with 18 tackles, nonetheless was lost to a knee injury. He played in just nine games.

"We had a guy or two out before last year, but we lost so many guys last season," Simmons said. "It’s important that we stay well."