Ryan Rehkow has already had an eventful pro career, and it got even better Sunday.
The former BYU punter went undrafted in April’s 2024 draft but soon thereafter signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. His time in Kansas City didn’t last long, and he eventually landed with the Cincinnati Bengals, then won the competition to be the Bengals’ starter and made the team’s 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie.
To cap all that, Rehkow made history on Sunday in his first regular-season NFL game.
On his second punt of the day in the Bengals’ season opener against the New England Patriots, Rehkow uncorked an 80-yard punt — the longest in franchise history.
That beat the previous record that had stood for 19 years, when Kyle Larson booted a 75-yarder for Cincinnati in 2005, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Rehkow would have been OK if the record-setting punt were one yard shorter: his boot ended up in a touchback, though it nearly stayed in the field of play before curling into the end zone just before going out of bounds.
Rehkow ended up breaking another franchise record in Cincinnati’s 16-10 loss to New England.
He had four punts in the game for 258 total yards, which set the Bengals’ single-game record with a 64.5 gross average.
The previous record was 63.0 yards per punt by Will Brice on Sept. 12, 1999, on three punts.
Rehkow’s 52.0 average net yards per punt was also the second-highest in a game in Cincinnati history.