The Bengals front office has been busy and will likely continue to be busy throughout the calendar year. Wide receiver Tee Higgins has now signed his franchise tender and an extension by the deadline of July 15 is not looking likely. While not ideal, this does allow for the front office to turn their attentions towards other matters.
In addition to Higgins, seven other starters are entering contract-years: defensive tackle B.J. Hill, cornerback Mike Hilton, offensive tackle Trent Brown, tight end Mike Gesicki, safety Vonn Bell, long snapper Cal Adomitis, and kicker Evan McPherson. The team also has the extension of star wideout Ja’Marr Chase to concern themselves with. While Chase and some of the others may be a higher priority, McPherson may be the likeliest Bengal to receive the next new deal, according to Jay Morrison of Pro Football Network.
The reason McPherson is the likeliest candidate to next receive an extension is the precedents already in place. Morrison calls it “a textbook case of ‘when, not if.’” For one, the desire for an extension is mutual between McPherson and the team. Contracts for kickers are also extremely straightforward leading to the likelihood that any negotiations should be pretty cut-and-dry.
Long-term contracts for kickers range from three to five years. Only three players at the position, Harrison Butker (Chiefs), Jason Sanders (Dolphins), and Younghoe Koo (Falcons), are on five-year deals, and of the top 14 contracts in the league for kickers, only Graham Gano (Giants), Ka’imi Fairbairn (Texans), Chase McLaughlin (Buccaneers), and Dustin Hopkins (Browns) are inked for only three years. The other seven top contracts are all four-year contracts.
Those contracts also have a narrow range of value with the lowest annual average being $3MM (Hopkins) and the highest being $6MM, shared by Justin Tucker (Ravens) and Jake Elliott (Eagles). That leaves a pretty small range of options for the Bengals to find a deal for McPherson ranging from three to five years with an average annual value of $3MM to $6MM, unless the team is looking to make McPherson the highest-paid kicker in the NFL.
While McPherson has been impressive under his rookie deal in Cincinnati, the Florida-product is only the franchise’s third-most accurate kicker. The former Gator has an NFL field goal percentage of 83.9, converting 78 of his 93 attempts. He has missed six of 132 extra point attempts but showed improvement in that field last year, going…