Evan McPherson looks to remain Money Mac when it matters most for the Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals embraced the motto “that’s why you draft a kicker” the last few seasons with Evan McPherson’s production.

Evan McPherson

• Height: 5’11”
• Weight: 185
• Age: 23
• College: Florida
• Hometown: Fort Payne, Alabama
• Experience: 2 years

Cap Status

Evan McPherson’s base salary for the 2023 season is $940,000, with a total cap number of $1,025,929, according to overthecap.com.

Background

Evan McPherson played three seasons with the Florida Gators and became SEC’s all-time leader in field goal percentage.

McPherson was a fifth-round pick back in 2021. The Bengals placekicker quickly became one of the best kickers in the NFL and a fan favorite.

McPherson was one of the most important pieces to the 2021-22 Super Bowl run, showing ice in his veins with five game-winning field goals as the time expired, including two (Titans and Chiefs) in the postseason run.

He is currently 19-for-19 on field goals in the postseason, with the most field goals made by any kicker in NFL history in his first two seasons.

McPherson has also implemented himself as one of the best distance kickers going 14-for-16 in his regular season career from 50 or more yards, including a perfect 5-for-5 in 2022. He also has the two longest field goals in team history, knocking in a 58-yard field goal and a 59-yard field goal.

It only took McPherson 14 games to become the Bengals' all-time leader in 50-plus yard field goals, snapping the record of eight with his 14 made.

Outlook for 2023

One of the most unfortunate storylines last season was the season-ending injury of Clark Harris in Week 1. The injury of a long snapper is crucial for special teams success, and we saw how much the loss of Harris affected McPherson early on last season.

Having a full offseason with Cal Adomitis, McPherson will have an opportunity to get back on track and pick up his top-tier production in the new season, similar to his rookie season stats.

It certainly helps that McPherson just wrapped up a perfect preseason, going 8/8 and even hitting a 58-yarder on one of the NFL’s worst fields in Washington.

There’s no question Baltimore’s Justin Tucker is the undisputed top kicker in the NFL, but McPherson is making a strong case to be called the league’s second-best kicker. He was recently ranked fifth among NFL kickers by Sportsnaut.