Ranking every active 2021 Bengals rookie through Week 12

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Evan McPherson, Cincinnati Bengals (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

2. Evan McPherson

No. 1 and No. 2 were no-brainers. No. 2 has to belong to Evan McPherson, who the Bengals spent a fifth-round pick on.

People weren’t super happy when the team opted to spend a fifth-round pick (or any pick for that matter) on a kicker. Well, those people probably feel foolish now, as McPherson — or Money Mac as he’d like to be called — has kicked butt and taken names in the process.

McPherson was a great kicker at Florida and that’s followed him into the NFL, as he knocked through two game-winners, including one in his first-ever NFL game. Through 11 games, McPherson is 17-of-20 on field goals with a percentage of 85%. His three misses came in the win over Jacksonville and the loss to Green Bay. He missed two key kicks in the loss to the Packers and that was his roughest moment of 2021 so far.

As far as extra points go, McPherson has missed just one on the year giving him a rock-solid percentage of 97.1%. He was perfect on the season in extra points until the win over Las Vegas two weeks ago but that miss didn’t end up mattering.

There’s no debating that Money Mac is the second-best rookie for the Bengals through Week 12.