Why not? While Wilson was chewing up 31.3 yards per return last season, the man who finished runner-up with 29.3, the Bears' Cordarrelle Patterson, was named to the 2010s all-decade team and the last man to win back-to-back kick return titles in 2015 and 2016.
"Cordarrelle is so big. What he's got going for him is that great physical size," said Simmons of the 6-2, 238-pound Patterson. "And he's got good speed. Brandon certainly isn't as big (5-10, 200 pounds), but he's got very good speed and he's got a knack of running with the ball in his hands."
Simmons has coached against some great ones. Dante Hall, Terrence McGee. Jacoby Jones. And of his own returners, Adam Jones comes to Simmons' mind first. As good as 2019 was for Wilson, when you carry it out to the third decimal point Jones' 2014 season is still the team record.
Simmons agrees that Wilson and Jones have one thing in common.
"Super decisive," Simmons said.
Or, the way Wilson puts it, "You can't hesitate. You've just got to go."
And there's that special speed. Next Gen Stats had the 92-yarder in Baltimore as the third fastest time in the league last season. Sub 4.4, they felt, when former Simmons assistant Brayden Combs scouted Wilson in 2017 at the University of Houston before the draft. They traded up in the sixth round to get him, just the fourth time in history the Bengals had traded up in the draft.
"We liked his speed, "Simmons said, "and he played a lot of positions. Running back. Safety. Corner."
But if Wilson his showing his stuff, so is Simmons. On that first kickoff in Cleveland Wilson looked to have about 6.5 new blockers compared to last year. Running back Samaje Perine, who had a huge block on the play, and safety Trayvon Henderson played sparingly last year next to regulars Carter and linebackers Germaine Pratt and Jordan Evans.
But Simmons has been able to get good play in his scheme from a batch of newcomers like rookie defensive end Khalid Kareem (a nice block on that opening kick), rookie linebackers Akeem Davis-Gaither and Logan Wilson and new veteran wide receiver Mike Thomas.
Wilson, it turns out, feeds off those guys. And it's a good thing. He says the silence in the stadiums nowadays reminds him of how he hushed the crowd in Baltimore, when you could have heard a Raven drop.
"Just seeing my teammates come around," Wilson said of what he likes best about his job. "We all get hype after the big return, and that's what kind of makes me happy and everything despite me juking past anybody or running by anybody and scoring. Just seeing the sideline and my teammates being happy, that's kind of cool."
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