Ryan Rehkow bought a JUGS machine before signing his two-year extension Tuesday, but the new deal cushions the impact on his self-improvement budget for the offseason.

"I want to be here more than two years," said Rehkow after officially being rewarded for the greatest season ever by a Bengals rookie punter. "Every single year, I just want to prove why I'm their guy. Why they should keep me around."

Just like Rehkow wasted no time showing the Bengals what he had in last season's record-breaking NFL debut on Opening Day, the Bengals didn't wait to keep him around for 2025. They did it rather decisively with a two-year deal when tendering a one-year deal would have kept him with the Bengals as an exclusive rights free agent with two or fewer accrued NFL seasons.

Rehkow blasted out of the gate leading all NFL rookies with a gross punting average of 49.1 yards and a net average of 42.9 that broke the team season records of Bengals all-time punter Kevin Huber.

And, special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons says we've seen only about half of what he thinks Rehkow can do.

"Probably like a six out of a 10 in terms of where it can be," Simmons says. "He does some things that are very, very appealing. He's just kind of scratching the surface."

One of the more appealing things is the cannon leg strength that produced those bombs that rained down on the Patriots in an opener he set an NFL single-game record with 64.5 yards per punt and a team record for the longest that went 80 yards.

"He's got a big ceiling," Simmons says.

But Simmons being Simmons, who became the NFL's longest-tenured special teams coach with a relentless attention to detail, also gave Rehkow a to-do list on Tuesday to go along with the congratulations.

Just ask Rehkow.

"I want to improve directionally. Just cutting the field in half, forcing the returners to make a good play," Rehkow says. "Because our coverage does a great job. They fly down the field setting the gunners up and the protection just to cover as well as possible.

"Pinning teams back. We can pin them inside the 20 a lot, but now let's pin them inside the 10 and really lengthen the field on them. That's an area I know I'm capable of being more efficient and I want to make sure when I come back it's really dialed in."

If there are offseason questions surrounding the offense and defense, less so for a special teams unit led by Rehkow and kicker Evan McPherson as he comes off injury.

Simmons returns most of his top players from a unit that was graded No. 1 by Pro Football Focus, but he has circled some areas that need to be upgraded, and that includes Rehkow's holding on McPherson's kicks.

It was his hold on McPherson's missed 53-yard overtime field-goal attempt against the Ravens that came under scrutiny. Rehkow stood up after the game to take responsibility, yet Simmons looks at the overall operation and didn't pin the blame on any one element.

Rehkow plans to use the new machine to work on his holding, which gives wife Hadlee a break. He says she has become quite adept with her underhand tosses, another example of her helping him along what has been a long way. They've been married nearly three years, stretching back to before he emerged as an NFL prospect at BYU.

When he says, "We," as in, "We have a whole tribe behind us cheering us on and for somebody to lean on," he means him and Hadlee. "So many people have helped us get to this point. So many things go into this behind the scenes."

Rehkow had seen and done more than most rookies. Three days after that debut of dreams, he turned 26. Before he even got to BYU, he served a two-year mission in London for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"During those two years, I didn't focus on football too much," Rehkow says. "It taught me a lot about doing the small things. About being prepared for whatever could happen. Seeing what other people can go through in life and just getting to interact with people from all over who have different backgrounds. It was really eye-opening."

Rehkow brought the experience to the NFL, where the small things meant more than working on booming punts.

"Are you actually working on smaller details that will translate in games?" Rehkow said. "So you can perform when the moment is biggest when needed most, can you deliver? In the NFL, the games have margins that are so fine. Every play matters. I feel like just seeing that first hand definitely opened my eyes."

And Rehkow was in the middle of those tight ones, even though his 53 punts were the fewest by a Bengal who punted in every game during a non-strike season.

Thanks to his high-rolling offense, the first two Paycor Stadium games he invited his family to, they didn't see him punt. He thought the same thing was going to happen at the third Paycor game, but he was finally called in overtime of the do-or-die game against Denver in the next-to-last game of the year and he got off a nice 47-yarder that NFL punt return leader Marvin Mims had to fair catch at his 10.

"To me, every week felt like a highlight just because you're living your dream," Rehkow said. "You're getting to experience what it's like to be on an NFL team. I love to kick the ball. I love punting."

First, the JUGS machine gets delivered. Then Rehkow plans to deliver for two more years.