Bengals kickers Elliott, Bullock go head to head in practice

For the first time in the three OTA practices open to the media, kickers Jake Elliott and Randy Bullock went head to head Tuesday.

The competition ended in a draw.

And a perfect one at that as both kickers went 4 for 4 from distances of 41, 37, 48 and 44 yards.

“We kick every day, so it’s not like I’m competing really hard against either guy in that situation,” said Elliott, the rookie fifth-round pick and first kicker the Bengals have drafted in the Marvin Lewis era.

“It’s definitely a little extra pressure when you go out there with the team with all the veterans around, but it’s fun,” Elliott said.

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With three kickers currently on the roster — Johnathan Brown is the other — the Bengals have been rotating each practice with two kickers going head to head while the other watches in order to get keep the final segment of practice from running too long. Two weeks ago Brown and Bullock kicked. Last week it was Elliott and Brown. And Tuesday was the first look at what is expected to be one of the most interesting position battles in training camp between Elliott and Bullock.

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“It is a competition, but I’m just going out there and focusing on what I can do,” Elliott said, noting that it reminds him some of his first season at Memphis when he came in and won the job as a freshman.

“Freshman year was a little nerve racking,” he said. “I mean I came in on scholarship, so it was kind of a situation where they expected me to win the job, but obviously it wasn’t given to me. There were a couple other guys there already, so I just had to go in there and compete and win the job.”

The same scenario will play out later this summer.

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