In his 24th season with the team, Darrin Simmons is the longest-tenured coach on the Bengals' staff. He has led the special teams for his entire Bengals career. He has held the title of special teams coordinator since 2013, and the title of assistant head coach since '20.
Over the past five seasons, Simmons has coached several Bengals specialists who etched their names in the team's record book. In 2025, he guided second-year P Ryan Rehkow to a Bengals single-season record of 50.5 total yards per punt, which ranked second in the NFL. Simmons also worked with K Evan McPherson, who converted a career-best 89.3 percent of his FG attempts (25 of 28), which included a team-record 63-yard kick in Week 12 against New England.
In 2024, Simmons helped a rookie Rehkow set Cincinnati's single-season mark for net punting average (42.92), eclipsing former Pro Bowler Kevin Huber's record. Rehkow was named to the Football Writers of America All-Rookie team. Simmons' 2024 unit also ranked second in the NFL in yards allowed per kickoff return (24.5).
Under Simmons' tutelage in 2023, McPherson made seven FG attempts from 50 or more yards, which tied for the fifth-most such kicks in the NFL. He finished the season with 21 career made FGs from 50-plus yards, the most in a player's first three years in NFL history.
The 2022 season was the final in Huber's remarkable 14-year career, the entirety of which was played under Simmons in Cincinnati. Huber suited up for a team-record 216 games and set Bengals records in every major punting category. Delivering snaps to Huber for a majority of his career was LS Clark Harris, who finished his own Bengals tenure in 2022 with zero unplayable snaps in 1880 attempts. Following Harris' season-ending injury in the 2022 opener, Simmons helped rookie Cal Adomitis record 146 snapping attempts without an unplayable delivery.
In 2021, McPherson compiled one of the top kicking seasons by a rookie in NFL history. He led the NFL and set a Bengals career record with nine made FGs from 50 or more yards, and went on to make all 14 of his FG attempts in the team's postseason run to Super Bowl LVI. Simmons in 2020 helped Huber post career highs in both gross (47.2 yards) and net (42.8) punting average.
In the return game, Simmons has coached three of the Bengals' top four leaders in career punt return average, and four of the top six in career KOR average. In 2019, he helped S Brandon Wilson lead the NFL with a KOR average of 31.25 yards. That year also saw Cincinnati rank third leaguewide in average starting field position (26.4-yard line).
Simmons helped Harris earn a Pro Bowl nod in 2017, as he recorded 143 snaps without an unplayable delivery. In 2016, Simmons guided Alex Erickson, a college free agent, to an AFC-leading 27.9 yards per KOR.
In 2015, HB Cedric Peerman made the Pro Bowl as a kick coverage and return-unit performer, as his 17 ST tackles tied for the most by a Bengal since '08. Huber's Pro Bowl season came in 2014, when he posted then-team records for gross (46.8) and net (42.1) average. That same year, Simmons helped CB Adam Jones lead the NFL in KOR average with a team-record mark of 31.26.
Simmons entered the NFL in 1998 with the Baltimore Ravens, serving as assistant special teams coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach. He then served in the same role with the Carolina Panthers from 1999-2002, before joining the Bengals in '03.
Simmons began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas, his alma mater, in 1996. He punted for the Jayhawks from 1993-95, earning All-Big Eight and Academic All-America honors in '95. He graduated with a sports management degree in 1996.
Prior to Kansas, Simmons was a punter and QB at 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.
Born April 9, 1973, in Elkhart, Kan., Simmons graduated from Elkhart High School. He and his wife, Rhonda, have a daughter and two sons.
Playing and coaching history: 1991-92—Played QB and P at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College. 1993-95—Played P at 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. 2013-19—Special teams coordinator, Bengals. 2020-present—Assistant head coach/special teams coordinator, Bengals.
