CINCINNATI — Evan McPherson has a new perspective on things. And it’s paying off big this summer.
No one has had a better camp than the fifth year kicker who signed a three-year, $14.5 million extension before the 2024 season that keeps him in Cincinnati through 2027.
He’s hit nearly every field goal attempt in camp and capped off the in-stadium practice with a 65-yard boot that had plenty to spare. In the preseason opener against Detroit, he was 3-for-3, including kicks of 56, 41 and 33 yards and hit the extra point. He accounted for 10 of Cincinnati’s 16 points to lead the Bengals to a 16-14 win over the Lions.
The stage for this camp was set last year with a terrific bounce-back season from 2024. In 2024, he was not his typical reliable self. He missed a career-high six field goals. During the 2024 NFL regular season, McPherson appeared in 12 games for the Cincinnati Bengals before his year was cut short by a right groin injury sustained on Dec. 1 against Pittsburgh. He spent the final five weeks of the season on injured reserve. He posted a career-low field goal percentage of 72.7%, hampered significantly by deep-range accuracy dips before fully recovering the following year.
Last year, he wanted to prove he was still worth that contract extension. And he came through in flying colors. During the 2025 NFL regular season, McPherson bounced back by appearing in all 17 games for the Cincinnati Bengals and rebounding from his injury-plagued previous year. He achieved a career-high field goal percentage of 89.3% and earned a stellar 90.0 season field-goal grade from Pro Football Focus.
McPherson’s 2026 training camp has been nothing short of a masterpiece, signaling that “Money Mac” is ascending back toward his legendary rookie-season apex, when he kicked the Bengals to last-second wins against the Chiefs (clinching the AFC North), the Titans (clinching Cincinnati’s first-ever road playoff win) and the Chiefs in overtime (punching a ticket to Super Bowl LVI). While McPherson has always possessed an elite leg, his performance throughout late July and August 2026 stands out as his most complete, polished, and dominant summer in a Bengals uniform.
The confluence of peak physical health, a hyper-focused mental approach with sports psychologist Peter Ganshirt, and technical modifications has transformed this camp into his finest stretch of consecutive practices yet. The primary catalyst behind McPherson’s flawless summer is his health. Over the past few seasons, he quietly managed a lingering right groin injury that disrupted his mechanical consistency. Now entirely healthy, he has integrated pre- and post-kick mobility exercises into a revamped routine.
“I feel like I’m in a good like headspace,” McPherson said. “I’ve been open about talking to Dr. Ganshirt about like mindset on the field, and that was going into last year, and he’s helped me out tremendously on how to change my mindset on the field rather than having that self-doubt that creeps in, just filling my head with positive thoughts, and it’s made a crazy change, I feel like, in my career, for sure.”
What set the stage for this?
“I spent a lot of time at the beach,” McPherson said with a smile.
The results on the Kettering Health Practice Fields speak for themselves. Early in camp, McPherson started a perfect 12-for-12 on field goal attempts, showcasing a violent yet controlled leg swing that had been missing when he was playing through discomfort in 2024. His raw power returned in spectacular fashion during an evening practice when he casually drilled a breathtaking 65-yard field goal, proving his range is as lethal as ever.
“If you ask Darren Simmons that, he says that the camp stats will show you your season stats,” McPherson said Tuesday. “Now you know things can go south, and we know that. But he’s a big believer on how you do in camp is going to be a great reflection on how you do in the season, and so I think it just kind of gives you confidence and kind of showing yourself that you are capable, you can do all this stuff. So I think that’s kind of where he gets the the stats kind of correlate.
“All in all, I feel like it’s been a pretty good camp, just ball striking wise, and it’s been fun.”
It’s fun when the ball sails through. And it’s been sailing through with and without the crosswinds on the practice fields.
“I just feel like just consistent, consistent ball striking has been,” McPherson told me. “I feel like my goal since I’ve came into the NFL, and I feel like as I’ve gotten older, I feel like I’ve noticed the importance of ball striking, and so that’s literally all I work on in the off season, during the season, every day. It’s just how I’m striking the ball. If I’m striking it clean, then the wind’s not going to affect it as much as it should.”
Beyond physical recovery, McPherson’s success is deeply rooted in unprecedented operational continuity. He has openly credited his seamless camp to the execution of long-snapper William Wagner and rookie holder Ryan Rehkow. For a kicker, trust in the operation is everything. McPherson noted during camp that he hasn’t had to consciously think about a snap or a hold, freeing his mind entirely. This operational perfection was highlighted during specialized situational drills when head coach Zac Taylor rolled out a set of narrow, nine-foot-wide goal posts—exactly half the width of regulation.
“Last year, I feel like was probably really important for me and in my career and confidence-wise,” McPherson said. “I feel like I needed it, and just the stability of having Ryan and Will and no change there is is huge. I tell or Will all the time, like I’m real thankful for them because you watch film of teams around the league and they’re getting laces back. You never know where they’re going to be. Somebody may not have the best holder, and so I’ve got the best of both worlds. Like I haven’t seen laces back in I can’t tell you how long, so I don’t have to worry about that. I know Ryan’s going to put it down.
“Like (Tuesday), we had a left to right wind, so we’re putting the ball straight up and down rather than lean towards him. And so, if I don’t communicate that to him, he understands, he feels the wind, and kind of knows me and what I like. And so it’s been huge, just kind of get that work with them, and and no change coming in.”
At the end of practice Tuesday, facing an incredibly tight window provided by the Arena Football League standard goal posts, McPherson hammered home a 51-yard dagger to cap off a two-minute drill, demonstrating pinpoint accuracy under simulated pressure.This training camp has also highlighted a brilliant technical evolution in McPherson’s approach to local elements.
Historically hesitant to alter the setup of his kicks, McPherson has fully embraced micro-adjustments to the “tilt” and lean of the football to counteract the unpredictable winds at Paycor Stadium. By straightening the ball against crosswinds or leaning it forward into head-winds to lower its trajectory, he has unlocked a new level of environmental mastery.
This meticulously engineered routine translated instantly into the 2026 preseason opener against the Lions. McPherson scored the Bengals’ first points of the year by drilling a 56-yard field goal with room to spare. That 56-yarder officially pushed him past Daniel Carlson for the most 50-plus yard field goals in NFL preseason history since 2021—a testament to his sustained distance shooting.
Entering the second year of his contract extension, McPherson is playing with the calm of a secured veteran and the hunger of a rookie. By pairing a clear, reactionary mental state with an elite operational unit and a fully healed body, he has eliminated the variance that occasionally plagued his sophomore and junior campaigns.
Ultimately, this camp has been McPherson’s best because he has combined raw, impressive distance with an ultra-consistent technical baseline, giving the Bengals absolute certainty that “Money Mac” is ready to anchor another deep postseason run.
Bengals Camp Day 13 Tuesday:
* Last day in pads before joint practice Thursday vs. Bears.
* Practice lasted just over 2 hours, including several drives in 11s, 4-minute, 2-minute, down-and-distance, red zone
* Joe Burrow had a nice crossbody throw to Ja’Marr Chase in space.
* Offense in general though had too many sloppy mistakes, including a Tee Higgins drop over the middle, a Samaje Perine drop of a swing pass in the flat, delay of game on Flacco in 2-minute, Josh Newton pick of Flacco on pass for Tinsley, Jordan Battle and Barrett Carter jailbreaks in on Burrow.
* Burrow had a nice corner pass to Ja’Marr Chase for a touchdown in red zone.
* Mike Gesicki caught a corner route pass from Burrow near the goal line and reached over the apparent TD, tho Gesicki acknowledged that the official ruled him out at the one-inch line “I said some crazy stuff to the official but I apologized to him later.”
* Dax Hill and Bryan Cook were again sitting out practice, nursing their injuries. Both are expected to miss joint practice and Saturday’s game with the Bears.
* Kyle Dugger filled in for Cook and DJ Ivey continues to get reps with the 1s.
* Bobo Davis showed up with an interception of a tipped Joe Flacco pass at the line of scrimmage.
* Bit of a moment with Ted Karras as Cedric Johnson came in and lost his footing and collided early with Karras. Karras played the rest of practice with no problem.
* Rotational first team tackles included Dexter Lawrence, Kris Jenkins Jr.,TJ Slaton, Jonathan Allen. BJ Hill was dress in pads but did not take part in team drills.
