Evan McPherson Beats Out Top NFL Talents For First Weekly Award of 2026 Season

A well-deserved award.

Cincinnati Bengals place kicker Evan McPherson (2) sits on the bench between drives in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 1 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Evan McPherson picked up AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in the opening game of the 2026 season.

McPherson banged home four field goals and all his extra points in the 33-27 win over Tampa Bay in Week 1.

McPherson converted each of his four FG attempts and three PATs to account for 15 of Cincinnati's 33 points. He led all NFL kickers in scoring in Week 1, and his four FGs led all AFC kickers in the 16 games played this past week.

McPherson's kicks came from distances of 20, 55, 58, and 32 yards (fourth). He became the first player in Bengals history to make multiple field goals from 55 or more yards in a game, and his 58-yarder tied for the fourth-longest kick in team history.

He has been completely dialed in since ending his tinkering with that leg motion after the 2024 season.

"Yeah, it's funny. I feel like, as a professional athlete, you're always looking for perfection, but you've got to realize that you're never going to get it," McPherson said to reporters in 2025. "And so I was looking for the straighter ball flight, more consistent ball flight, rather than hit like a draw. And I found it in a certain technique, but I noticed that I wasn't as consistent. But it worked, like my third year. It worked really well, and then I continued trying to do it into my fourth, and I tweaked it a little bit, and it didn't really work out. So I'm at the point now where I'm going back to how I grew up learning how to kick. So I get all I need to focus on is kind of my target line, the wind, and my body just kind of does the rest."

Cincinnati is relying on him again this week as they travel to face the Houston Texans in a massive AFC battle against one of the top contenders in the sport. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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