Bengals will give Charlie Jones a shot as primary kick returner

Kickoffs and speical teams are a huge topic around the NFL right now after the recent rules changes.

That includes the Cincinnati Bengals, with the subject of who might return kicks next year a question.

As it turns out, after an electric, short stint as a punt returner next year, sophomore Charlie Jones will get a look, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

Yes, Jones is going to get a shot at kickoffs. He didn’t return one as a rookie after 45 kick returns in college, headlined by his 2021 season at Iowa when he took one back and averaged 25.4 yards for a year he ran back 25 kicks. Jones has shown adroit lateral moves.

Jones took one punt back for a touchdown last season as a rookie, so it only makes sense that his workload would expand.

That said, the Bengals have already brought back running back Trayveon Williams and could add more competition for the role via the draft soon.

Looking ahead to next year, the addition of Mike Gesicki could eat up a chunk of the base offense’s snaps that used to go to Tyler Boyd, so Jones getting more work on special teams is the likely move.