There are few sights that calm a Bengals crowd faster than Evan McPherson jogging onto the field. So far this season, that confidence has been rewarded every time: McPherson is perfect on field goal tries and PATs, and he hasn’t even come close to a miss on 10 field goal attempts.
That kind of start is pushing him up the national conversation. FanSided’s in-house kicker rankings had McPherson 12th heading into the 2026 campaign, but he’s made a clear jump in the latest update. He now sits seventh in the newest FanSided Kicker Rankings, boosted by a fourth-place finish in Adam Fromal’s signature Kick Value Added statistic, which weighs every possible variable to measure the worth of each kick.
Fromal made it clear that McPherson’s rise could keep going if this stretch continues. "Evan McPherson may not be done climbing the rankings if he keeps kicking the ball as cleanly as he has in the first portion of the Bengals' season.
He's navigated treacherous wind conditions, pumped in five kicks from 50-plus and made everything he's looked at thus far. He's also feasted on an easier slate of kicks than the rest of the top five in KVA, and his accuracy metrics lag behind most of the kickers surrounding him in the rankings.
Given his year-over-year inconsistency heading into 2026, McPherson needs to maintain this level over a larger sample before truly threatening for a top-five spot."
That caveat matters because McPherson’s career has come with some swings. His rookie season in 2021 was sensational, the year Cincinnati reached Super Bowl LVI, but he’s had stretches that looked nothing like that version of Money Mac.
The roughest patch came in 2024. Joe Burrow was putting up MVP-level play while the defense struggled, and McPherson still had chances to swing games with his leg.
Instead, he stumbled through a season that never really found a rhythm. His 2024 KVA of -3.74 ranked 39th in the league, a number that put him behind no fewer than six backups.
Cincinnati stayed with him, and last season he answered with his best field goal percentage, hitting 25 of 28 attempts for 89.3%, even while missing a few extra points.
This year, the early returns have been spotless. McPherson was perfect in the preseason too, and that form has carried straight into the regular season. The operation around him has been clean as well, with punter/holder Ryan Rehkow and long snapper William Wagner getting it done without a hiccup.
For now, McPherson has given Bengals fans exactly what they want from a kicker: no drama, no hesitation, and every reason to trust the next attempt.
In Other News...
Burrow And Bengals Special Teams Just Made Rare Team History
Joe Burrow keeps adding to a Bengals rsum that already looks like one of the most decorated in team history, and his latest weekly honor only reinforces how steady he has been for Cincinnati. After the Week 7 win over Baltimore, Burrow was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for a performance that included 22 completions on 30 attempts, 292 yards and four touchdowns.
Special teams got its own share of recognition, too, with Ryan Rehkow taking AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after a strong punting day against the Ravens. Rehkow averaged 46 yards on four punts, and every one of them pinned Baltimore inside its 20-yard line, a detail that gives Cincinnati another encouraging sign as the unit continues to show up in big moments. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals May Already Have A Rising CB Problem Fans Didn't Expect
DJ Turner II has quietly become one of the more interesting players on the Bengals roster, even if his profile still hasnt caught up to his play. He was strong enough last season to post a high PFF coverage grade and stack up notable defensive numbers, which only adds to the sense that Cincinnati may already have something more valuable at corner than the broader football conversation realizes.
The tricky part is where Turner sits in his career and in the market around him. Cornerback prices have climbed sharply across the league, and while Turner is still tied to his rookie deal, the gap between production and recognition keeps getting harder to ignore. For the Bengals, that creates a familiar kind of roster tension, one where a young standout can look like a bargain now and a much bigger question later. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Trade Deadline Debate Comes Down To Two Roster Priorities
As the trade deadline nears, the Bengals are being sized up against a familiar front-office question: do they chase help for the backfield or look to strengthen the other spots that have left the roster thin? The idea of adding a running back has the most obvious appeal, and Jonathan Taylor sits near the top of the list of potential fits because he would instantly change the conversation about Cincinnatis ground game.
There are other names in the mix, too, with the evaluation stretching beyond one position and into how much flexibility the Bengals actually have to make a meaningful move. Zach Baun has been mentioned as a value option from Philadelphia, though his contract and cap hit could make any deal trickier than it sounds, and that is part of the broader debate here: the Bengals may know what they need, but the market is not exactly making the choice easy. [Read more 🡒]