The Cincinnati Bengals opted to go in a different direction when they allowed Alex Erickson to walk this offseason. He had been the team’s punt returner since he made the team as an undrafted free agent in 2016.
The leader to replace him in all likelihood is Bengals cornerback Darius Phillips, who was a fantastic returner in college. However, Phillips has struggled to stay healthy, and he is only under contract for one more season. Cincinnati also did a pretty good job of grabbing some interesting names to possibly push Phillips for the job.
Two of the more dynamic options have the downside of never really returning punts in games before.