The Cincinnati Bengals sound like a team ready to make a change at punter if it means improvement.
And Drue Chrisman will be ready if the team decides he’s to fill the cleats of longtime veteran and franchise ironman Kevin Huber.
Chrisman, currently still on the practice squad, says he preps every week like he could get called up for the starting role, especially after what happened with long-snapper Cal Adomitis in Week 2.
“Every week I prepare like I’m going to start because you never know. Look at Cal,” Chrisman said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “In week one he didn’t know he was going to be starting week two. You have to be ready with any decision they make.”
Chrisman didn’t originally win the job from Huber but a change could come very quickly after Huber’s rough first half of the season.
Funnily enough, Chrisman told Hobson that not winning the job gave him time to tweak some things about his game: “I was able to tweak some things, change up some things. I shortened up my steps. I was getting a little long in the preseason. Getting long doesn’t necessarily mean getting longer and higher punts. Usually more compact is better as you explode off the ground a lit bit.”
If Bengals coaches — and especially special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons — agree, the move could happen any time between Monday and the start of Wednesday’s practice as they get ready to play the Steelers.