Darrin Simmons

A valuable and proven veteran on the Bengals' coaching staff, Simmons is now in his 18th season with the team and stands as the longest-tenured coach on staff. Simmons has spent his entire Bengals term leading the special teams units, and for the last eight years has held the title of special teams coordinator. This season, he has added the role of assistant head coach.

Over his Bengals career, Simmons' work with the special teams units has helped re-write the team's record book. Simmons has guided P Kevin Huber to the top spot in every career punting category, including attempts (843), yards (38,012), gross average (45.09), net average (40.00) and inside-20s (296). Under Simmons' direction, Huber has notched the top five seasons in team history for net average and inside-20s, and the top four seasons for gross average. Snapping to Huber for a majority of his career has been another Simmons protégé, LS Clark Harris, who entering 2020 has 1559 career snaps without an unplayable delivery.

Simmons' special teams units have also excelled in the return game. He's coached three of the Bengals' top four leaders in career punt return average and four of the team's top six leaders in career kickoff return average.

Last season, Simmons guided yet another exemplary season by the special teams units, which notched top-10 rankings in five major special teams categories. S Brandon Wilson, who was limited by injury to just eight games, finished with an NFL-best 31.3-yard average on kickoff returns (min. 20 attempts); his average, though, fell just .009 shy of the team record set by Jones in 2014. Simmons' coverage units last year again ranked among the best in the league, finishing third in average starting field position (26.4) and fourth in opponents' average starting field position (23.9).

His 2019 campaign followed an impressive '18, when the Bengals ranked seventh in punt return coverage (10.7), fifth in kickoff return average (24.9) and ninth in punt coverage (7.3 yards/return).

In 2017, Simmons helped Harris to his first-career Pro Bowl, after recording 143 snaps (89 punts, 54 placekicks) without an unplayable delivery. That followed a 2016 campaign in which Simmons guided Alex Erickson's unexpected rise from college free agent to the AFC kickoff return title (27.9 average).

In 2015, HB Cedric Peerman made the Pro Bowl as a kick coverage and return-unit performer. Peerman's 17 tackles tied for the Bengals' highest total since 2008, and helped Cincinnati to a No. 3 NFL ranking in opponents' average drive start on kickoffs (20.2 yard line).

Simmons guided Huber to the Pro Bowl in 2014, after he posted franchise records for gross (46.8) and net (42.1) average, re-setting club marks he already held. Also in '14, Simmons helped Jones to the NFL lead in kickoff return average, with a team-record mark of 31.26, along with a second-place finish in punt return average (12.0).

Simmons' Bengals special teams have shown a nose for the ball, forcing 27 fumbles in his 17 completed seasons. The 1.6 average comfortably outpaces the 1.0 norm for the nine seasons prior to his tenure.

Simmons entered the NFL in 1998 with the Baltimore Ravens, where he served as assistant special teams coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach. He then joined the Carolina Panthers, where he served in the same role from 1999-2002, before joining the Bengals in '03.

Simmons began his coaching career at the University of Kansas in 1996. He punted for Kansas from 1993-95, earning All-Big Eight honors his final year and helping the Jayhawks to a top-10 national ranking. Also as a 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, where in 1992 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, Dodge City (Kan.) Community College. 1993-95—Played punter, Kansas. 1996—Graduate assistant coach, Kansas. 1997—Assistant coach (AC), University of Minnesota. 1998—AC, Baltimore Ravens. 1999-2002—AC, Carolina Panthers. 2003-12—AC, Cincinnati Bengals. 2013-present—Special teams coordinator, Bengals.