Bengals' Evan McPherson skyrockets near top of preseason FanSided kicker rankings

The Cincinnati Bengals should be icing most of their games with their new-look, under-center offense killing the clock. IN the rare event they do need a game-wining kick, though, Evan McPherson is the man they're counting on.

McPherson had a phenomenal training camp. As far as I'm aware, he didn't miss a single kick that was reported by the beat reporting boots on the ground. That precision carried over to the preseason, where he nailed all eight of his field goal attempts and was a perfect 7-for-7 on PATs.

As he enters the penultimate year of his second contract that he hasn't totally lived up to, all the momentum is on Money Mac's side. And the advanced metrics tell us as much.

McPherson cracks top 5 in Kick Value Added (KVA) after elite preseason

Adam Fromal's recent piece on FanSided.com ranked every kicker by Kick Value Added in the NFL preseason. Bengals standout Evan McPherson checked in at the No. 5 spot, with the following analysis on his 4.34 KVA score:

"Evan McPherson often goes overlooked in discussions about the game's best kickers, likely because his inconsistency can sometimes mask the overwhelmingly positive nature of his overall numbers. But the Cincinnati Bengals specialist looked quite consistent throughout the preseason, perhaps benefiting from a year of continuity with punter/holder Ryan Rehkow and long-snapper William Wagner."

For a little more context as to this KVA metric that Fromal ingeniously conceived, it's designed to better assess the pure value of kickers. Here's a brief snippet of the initial explanation from this piece last year:

"KVA measures how much value a kicker actually adds (or costs) relative to league expectations from the same distances across the field. A long-distance conversion shouldn’t be weighed the same as a chip shot, and a miss doesn’t carry the same meaning everywhere on the field."

McPherson has indeed been money no matter what the situation calls for. What stood out most of late was McPherson's long-range prowess during camp and the NFL's exhibition phase.

The climax was a 65-yard bomb McPherson pummeled through the uprights to end the Bengals' Paycor Stadium training camp practice in early August, courtesy of WCPO's Caleb Noe:

My guy Fromal is on to something regarding the continuity between McPherson, punter/holder Ryan Rehkow and long snapper William Wagner.

Those latter two deserve some recognition, too. McPherson was sure to give it to them when he said earlier in camp that they've allowed him to focus solely on his job of kicking the ball without worrying about the quality of the snap or the hold.

Wagner beat out Cal Adomitis for the long snapper job during last year's training camp as an undrafted rookie out of Michigan. It felt like a bold call at the time, yet Wagner has done nothing but impress since taking the gig.

In the latest overall kicker power rankings at FanSided, McPherson is in 12th. If he gets back to the rookie year form that saw him nail clutch kick after clutch kick en route to a Super Bowl LVI appearance, and Cincinnati lives up to championship expectations, it stands to reason he'll ascend up the board relatively soon.

Considering McPherson already rallied back from a down 2024 campaign to make 25 of 28 field goal attempts last year, his continued upward trajectory bodes well.

If Money Mac is indeed fully himself, and the Bengals' defense is improved as much as expected...and Joe Burrow is on the field for the whole season? Watch out. This team is daaaaaangerous!

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