Wide receiver Charlie Jones, one of only two Bengals ever to return both a kick and punt for a touchdown, is wondering Tuesday who has the team record for all-time touchdown returns via a punt and kick.

The Who is easy for 'My Generation.' Lemar Parrish, the Sultan of the Seventies and the Bengals' newest Ring of Honor member.

"How many?" asks Jones, a question they were kicking around the other day.

Have to get back to you on that one.

"This year?" Jones is asked. "I want multiple touchdowns."

That would certainly make things interesting during the season teammates Parrish and Dave Lapham join the ring. Parrish, the only Bengal other than Jones to go all the way with both, has five.

Four punt return touchdowns and a kick return.

That puts Jones in second place with two, tied with many. Mitchell Price, Craig Yeast and Peter "I'm Going To Seal It With a Kiss," Warrick have two career punt return touchdowns. Tremain Mack and Brandon Wilson have two kick returns for touchdowns.

(Adam "Pacman," Jones came within three yards. He rocked the Browns for a punt return touchdown a dozen years before This Jones and added a 97-yard kick return two years later that got them to the 3.)

Now, Charlie Jones tries to get at least his third return touchdown in his third season, and the reason he thinks he can get more is because it's the healthiest he's been in a star-crossed career since he lugged those 110 catches at Purdue into the fourth round of the 2023 draft.

"I returned a punt my rookie year and played (11) games," says Jones, who missed five games with a broken thumb. "Then my second year, I return a kick, and I play half the season. I haven't played a full season. I want to stay healthy and score a few."

He certainly looked capable from scrimmage after a terrific practice on Monday. Telling everyone it's the best he's felt in the pros, he beat speedster cornerback DJ Turner II with a diving grab of a long ball down the sideline ("I was in,"). A few snaps later, Jones disappeared into the wormhole of a Cover Two for another long one.

After getting hurt in practice about 10 days after stunning the Browns on the opening 100-yard kickoff in Week 7 last season, Jones missed the last nine games. He says he had two surgeries to fix what he calls a sports hernia and was healthy enough to attend Drew Lieberman's wide receiver camp in Atlanta this spring and summer.

That came at the urging of his best buddies on the team, draft classmates Andrei Iosivas and running back Chase Brown. It has him confidently flying out of the gate early.

"Great decision. Really enjoyed it down there," Jones says. "I want to be the best wide receiver I can be. (As a returner), I want to be the best in the league. I understand the importance of it and I think I've got the guys around me."

Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons coached Warrick, Wilson and Pacman Jones, the NFL kickoff return champion of 2014, and isn't going to make any comparisons.

But …

"When healthy, he's been effective," Simmons says.

"We just need him out there for more plays. He's been versatile. When he's decisive and can stick his foot in the ground and he's confident, he can be an effective make-them-miss guy also. He looks confident … I really like it when he puts his foot in the ground and gets the ball vertical and is very aggressive trying to get up the field. That's when he's at his best. When he's not overthinking."

Jones agrees and points to the kick return in Cleveland. Simmons called a "middle return," but Jones shot off tight end Drew Sample’s block up the right sideline before muscling through two defenders to get to the pylon.

"It's running through smoke," Jones says. "It's hard for a cover team to tackle you when you're going full speed downhill."

Jones asked Simmons to put together a tape of the league's best. Denver's Marvin Mims, who led the NFL last season with more than 15 yards per punt return. KaVontae Turpin of Dallas, who led the league with 33.5 yards per kick return while also returning both a punt and kick for a touchdown. Others include Tank Dell of Houston, who doesn't do punts often, but does it as well as his 22-yard punt return average as a rookie in 2023.

"Tank is super explosive. Shifty," Jones said. "Different than Mims. They do a lot of wall returns and get him open to the field. Which I like. It's good to look at how different teams scheme it up and what they do well.

"Everybody's got their own, and this year I'm just focused on making good decisions going full-speed back there."

So the number is in the Ring of Honor.

Lemar Parrish's five.

"Work to be done," says Jones, who knew it would be more than two. "I have to get going,"