The AFC North may have one of the more talented kicking rooms in all of football. Consistency is what is most important when determining whether your kicker is efficient or not, and if they are capable of sustaining it throughout an entire season into the playoffs.
Currently, there is a good mix of old and new. Justin Tucker and Chris Boswell have been two of the most consistent kickers of the last decade and both have the stats to prove that.
Then, you have the young legs in Evan McPherson for the Cincinnati Bengals, and Cade York who is entering his second season for the Cleveland Browns. Here are the AFC North kicker rankings from worst to best.
4. Cade York
Cade York had a very good rookie season, but he had a lot of points where he was very hit-or-miss. To top any of the other three kickers in this division, he will need to sustain that consistency over a longer period of time, especially, kicking in big moments. The Browns haven't gotten to that point with York yet.
This season could be a big year for the Browns. The roster is intact and the talent is there to do something in this conference and in this division but we must see it translate before we get ahead of ourselves.
As a rookie, York had a 75.0 field goal percentage and out of 32 attempts, he knocked through 24 attempts, according to Pro Football Reference. All together that is a fairly good year, but when you have kickers in the division that are making upwards of 90.0 at a consistent rate. It's hard to put York any higher than fourth at this moment in time.
York currently doesn't have any postseason stats as the Browns missed the playoffs last season in his rookie year.
3. Chris Boswell
In eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chris Boswell has a career of 86.3 field goal percentage. He has made 20 or more field goals in six out of the eight seasons. His worst career year outside of 2018, when he battled injury, came last season when his make percentage dropped from 90.0 to 71.4.
Boswell is on the backend of his kicking career, but he is still very effective, especially within the division. He has two career games where he has made six field goals and his career high in extra points made in a single game is seven.
It's safe to say Boswell will go down as one of the better kickers in Pittsburgh's franchise history and as long as his efficiency stays afloat and he doesn't become a liability, I can't see why the Steelers would move on from him anytime soon.
Boswell's career playoff stats are as close to perfect as you can nearly be. In eight playoff games as the Steelers kicker, he has managed to be a perfect 16-16 on field goals and 15-17 on extra points.
2. Evan McPherson
Evan McPherson came onto the scene and simply dominated from a kicking standpoint for the Bengals. He became one of the most reliable players they had in clutch situations.
In the two separate playoff runs in his first two years, McPherson hasn't missed a single field goal in the postseason in a total of seven games. He is a perfect 19-19 on field goal attempts and 12-13 on extra points. This accumulates for 69 total points he has generated for the Bengals in just the handful of playoff games he has appeared in.
In 2022, he had back-to-back game-winning kicks against the Titans to send the Bengals to the AFC Championship and then he did the same against the Kansas City Chiefs in the championship game to send the Bengals to the Super Bowl. In two seasons McPherson's field goal percentage is 83.9 and 100.0 in the postseason as I mentioned.
One of the most impressive stats that McPherson has managed is his efficiency from 50+ yards. He is 14-16 in his career from 50 yards and beyond. He was 5-5 last season in those instances. His career-long currently sits at 59 yards.
McPherson is the clear-cut number two at this point in time. He doesn't have the résumé Boswell has yet, but entering this season, most would take McPherson over Boswell or York.
1. Justin Tucker
Justin Tucker is old reliable at this point and he somehow continues to get better. With the way he continues to produce, there may not be a question of who the greatest kicker of all time is when it's all said and done. Tucker is simply automatic.
In 401 total field goal attempts, Tucker has made 363 of them. He has a career 90.5 field goal percentage in 11 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
He is a career 57-80 from 50+ yards and he currently has the longest make in NFL history at 66 yards. He has only missed five extra points in his entire career out of 418 attempts.
Tucker has amounted to just over 1,500 total points for the Ravens' offense. His postseason stats are not quite as good but they are still very effective. He is 15-19 on field goals in 11 career games and he is perfect on extra points making 29 of 29. He has generated 74 points for the Ravens in his postseason career and remains the best kicker in the AFC North and all of football.