Bengals re-sign punter Kevin Huber to 3-year deal

The Cincinnati Bengals are keeping Kevin Huber.

Right as NFL free agency officially opened on Wednesday, the Bengals struck a three-year deal with their long-time punter to keep him in the Queen City, according to Mike Garafolo.

According to Jim Owczarski, the deal is worth $7.95 million deal over the three years, which breaks down to $2.65 million per year. $1.55 million is guaranteed and Huber could earn up to $8.75 million in total with a 2019 roster bonus and performance-based incentives.

Huber has spent nine years with the Bengals, missing only two games in that span. He has punted 697 punts for 31,499 yards in that time.

Originally a fifth round pick by the Bengals (142nd overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Cincinnati, Huber is a life-long Cincinnati resident, as he attended high school at Archbishop McNicholas in Cincinnati.

This past season, Huber finished 11th in punting average (46.6), 15th in percentage of punts inside the opponents 20 yard line (36%), 27th for percentage of punts inside the opponents 10 yard line (8%), and 24th best for making punts unreturnable (45% of his punts were returned).

While some of those stats leave a lot to be desired, Huber has been a very reliable punter for the majority of his career in Cincinnati. Part of why he had a down 2017 year was the amount of injuries Cincinnati endured forced a lot of different players to play on special teams, which made most of the special teams units look bad.

The Bengals were very smart to keep Huber in stripes. The Chicago Bears were among the teams interested in re-signing him.