Evan McPherson shows off his leg with 57-yard field goal

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Evan McPherson out of Florida with their fifth-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Many joked at Cincinnati’s expense talking about it being a reach. That tone may change if the former Florida Gators product continues to make kicks like he did right before halftime against the Dolphins, nailing a 57-yard kick with room to spare.

This kick would have tied McPherson for the longest kick in Bengals’ history if it were in the regular season. Pretty safe bet that record is going down if McPherson is with the Bengals for the foreseeable future.

If McPherson hadn’t already won the kicking battle with Austin Seibert this kick put the nail in the coffin. For a franchise that has had issues with kickers since Mike Nugent lost his touch, this is a huge relief off fan’s shoulders.

This also has some pretty big implications for actually winning games, as Zac Taylor and the Bengals have lost plenty of one-score games over two seasons. How many times has a missed kick or an issue with being able to trust their kicker impacted the outcome of a game?

It seems like that won’t be an issue for a while with McPherson taking over, and that feels so good to say out loud.