Take a moment to think about how many players can actually push to become an NFL All-Pro. Starters are the guys with an actual chance, and most positions have just a couple starters per team. Some have just one. The odds of being a starter are slim. The odds of being the best starter in the entire league are microscopic.
Now think about how many players spend their Sundays exclusive on special teams. That number feels a lot larger, doesn't it?
285 players averaged at least 10 special teams snaps a game last season. Players of varying experience level, contract status, and leadership roles all need to contribute to the forgotten third phase of the sport, creating a seemingly impossible task to stand out as one of the best players in the league.
In short, there are so many more players eligible to be the best special-teamer in the NFL compared to every other position. Tycen Anderson of the Cincinnati Bengals is going to try anyways.
Anderson is entering his fourth season in Cincinnati, but it really feels like his third at most. The fifth-round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft missed his entire rookie season due to a hamstring injury and tore his ACL midway through the 2023 campaign. 2024 was his first full year with the Bengals, and only one of his teammates—linebacker Maema Njongmeta—had more special teams snaps than his 345.
He'll need another year matching that level of activity if he wants to accomplish his goal.
"I want to be the best special teams player in the league," Anderson told Bengals radio personality Dan Hoard. "There are a lot of great dudes and I want to be brought up in the discussion and push for an All-Pro season."
3. Montgomery is eager to try to help
DE Myles Murphy reach his potential.
"It's not like he's a bad football player," said Montgomery.
"The kid's got good size and plays hard. We can clean up his hands, eyes, feet, and pad level, and help him put a better rush plan together." pic.twitter.com/MXJD9f9DCA— Dan Hoard (@Dan_Hoard) May 20, 2025
It's a rare statement to read from an NFL player. Contributing on offense or defense is the primary motivation for most. Scoring touchdowns, registering sacks or interceptions, and becoming media stars is what players we normally hear from work toward.
Everyone and anyone in the NFL can play special teams. Most of them have to in order to stick around. Only guys like Anderson cherish and value the opportunity.
While Njongmeta out-snapped him, no one had more special teams tackles than Anderson for Cincinnati in 2024. The only unit he wasn't included in last season was field goal kicking as he's not a blocker, long snapper, holder, or kicker for that matter. You could find him on film doing all sorts of dirty work in coverage and return teams for both kickoffs and punts.
Dirty work that only rewards one player with a First Team All-Pro honor. Brenden Schooler of the New England Patriots earned it last year, and only eight others have come before him as the AP began recognizing special teamers who don't return kicks or kick in any manner in 2016.
There have been Bengals of the past to garner All-Pros like that. Adam "Pacman" Jones was First Team All-Pro in 2014 as a kickoff returner. Pat McInally's punting in 1981 earned him the honor in 1981.
Anderson would be the first to become one the more difficult way, and if it happens this year, there won't be a better time.
Anderson's rookie contract expires after this season. Cincinnati would surely like to retain him after another healthy season contributing on special teams and providing defensive depth at safety. An All-Pro honor, no matter the kind, could enhance negotiations on his side. Just ask Ja'Marr Chase. Maybe hold off on asking Trey Hendrickson.
Anderson's next contract won't look like anything of that caliber. There are no relative riches in being the best of special teams, and the recognition of being the best is not even a decade old.
It's what makes his goal even more admirable.
