When the Cincinnati Bengals selected Toledo Rockets safety Tycen Anderson in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the hope was that he could help improve the team's secondary.
What the Bengals found was a special teams jewel.
After spending his entire rookie season on injured reserve, Anderson began the 2023 season as the backup free safety behind Daxton Hill and a special teams contributor.
In Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers, he tore his ACL early in the contest but pressed on to finish the game. He missed the final two months of the year again, on injured reserve.
Last season, after a long recovery, he appeared in all 17 games and played 345 snaps on kick and punt returns. He posted 11 tackles with 10 solo. Now, he's ready to improve his game.
“I want to be the best special teams player in the league,” Anderson told Dan Hoard on the Bengals Booth podcast. “There are a lot of great dudes, and I want to be brought up in the discussion and push for an All-Pro season.”
Now, Anderson is fully healthy and ready to impress his special teams coach, Darrin Simmons.
The Bengals finished last year with a 9-8 mark and missed out on a postseason berth. The defense allowed a whopping 434 points to opposing offenses, and that's something that the defense will need to focus on improving.
Will Anderson be a part of that secondary improvement? He'll have to work for that. But one thing he can do is be the best special teams player he can be, and that's the goal.