Darrin Simmons is in his ninth season as Bengals special teams coach. In 2010, he directed the NFL’s top punt coverage unit, guided a strong comeback by a veteran placekicker and continued getting positive yardage on punt returns, with no turnovers.
Darrin Simmons is in his ninth season as Bengals special teams coach. In 2010, he directed the NFL’s top punt coverage unit, guided a strong comeback by a veteran placekicker and continued getting positive yardage on punt returns, with no turnovers.
Cincinnati led the NFL in punt coverage for the season’s final five weeks and finished with an average yield of only 4.8 yards on 26 opponent returns. No foe had a return of longer than 20 yards. The 4.8 mark was third-best in franchise history and the best since the strike-shortened season of 1982, when opponents averaged a record-low 4.0 in only nine games.
The Bengals were in the market for a new placekicker last season and got maximum dividends from the signing of Mike Nugent from the free agent ranks.
Nugent’s season ended prematurely, due to a knee injury in Week 9, but he earned an AFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award when he scored all Cincinnati’s points in a 15-10 win over Baltimore, and he was AFC Special Teamer of the Month for September.
A two-time 100-point producer for the N.Y. Jets, Nugent had seen his fortunes dip in 2008-09. He was injured for nearly all of 2008, and in ’09, he did not stick in stints at Tampa Bay and Arizona.
“I’ve become a better kicker working with Darrin,” Nugent said. “I was open to some ideas, and Darrin led me to change how I position the ball for field goals and PATs. It gave me more consistency.”
Quan Cosby, a 2009 undrafted free agent signee, has developed under Simmons into a solid punt returner. He has averaged 10.0 yards over the last two seasons while handling 114 opportunities (70 returns and 44 fair catches) without a turnover via muff or fumble.
Simmons’s Bengals special teams have shown a nose for the ball, forcing 22 fumbles in his eight completed seasons. That’s nearly three times the total (eight) for the eight seasons prior to his tenure.
Simmons coached all seven of Shayne Graham’s seasons as Bengals kicker (2003-09). Graham’s 86.8 accuracy percentage on field goals is the franchise career record.
Simmons entered the NFL in the 1998 season on the same Baltimore Ravens staff as Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, who was Ravens defensive coordinator at the time. Simmons was assistant special teams coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Ravens, and he held that same role for the Carolina Panthers from 1999-2002. He joined the Bengals in 2003.
A former college punter himself, Simmons played an integral role at Carolina in the development of Todd Sauerbrun as one of the NFL’s top punters of the time.
Simmons began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Kansas University in 1996. He moved to the University of Minnesota in 1997.
Simmons punted in college for Kansas from 1993-95, earning All-Big Eight honors his final year. As a senior, he helped the Jayhawks to a top 10 national ranking and to an Aloha Bowl victory over UCLA. Also as a Kansas senior, he won honors as an academic All-American.
Prior to playing for Kansas, Simmons was a punter and QB for Dodge City (Kan.) Community College. In 1992 at Dodge City, he led the nation’s junior colleges in punting and was a first-team JUCO All-American.
Simmons earned a degree in sports management from Kansas in 1996.
Born April 9, 1973, in Elkhart, Kan., he graduated from Elkhart High School. He and his wife, Rhonda, have a daughter and two sons.
PLAYING AND COACHING HISTORY 1991-92: Played quarterback and punter at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College. 1993-95: Punter, University of Kansas. 1996: Graduate assistant coach, Kansas. 1997: Assistant coach (AC), University of Minnesota. 1998: AC, Baltimore Ravens. 1999-2002: AC, Carolina Panthers. 2003-present: AC, Bengals.
