McPherson will be signing a three-year, $16.5 million contract that will include $10 million in new money in the first year of his deal, which is the highest ever for a three-year kicker extension. His agents at SportsStars confirmed the deal.
Less than two weeks ago, McPherson addressed questions regarding his contract negotiations in light of the Chiefs finalizing an extension for Harrison Butker on a $25.6 million, four-year deal that included $17.75 million guaranteed.
McPherson was entering the final season of his rookie deal, set to make $1.055 million in base salary in 2024, but remained nonchalant about the process.
“He’s been around the block a little longer than I have, proved himself a little more, but I don’t know,” McPherson said Aug. 3 when asked about Butker’s contract. “We’re just still grinding everything out and we’ll see if we can get something. I’m not sure.”
At $6.4 million per year, Butker remains the highest-paid kicker on a per year basis, while McPherson now checks in at No. 5 on the list with a $5.5 million average. Baltimore’s Justin Tucker, Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott and Indianapolis’ Matt Gay are also ahead of him.
McPherson had said he wasn’t concerned about the timing of getting a deal done but was hopeful it could happen before the start of the season. He said it would be “unneeded stress” to worry about that.
“At the end of the day, if I just perform like I’m supposed to, it’ll get done,” McPherson said. “And I believe that, and I think if I just keep my head down, keep playing, something will come up eventually.”
The 2021 fifth-round draft pick has performed so far in his young Bengals career, ever since he kicked a walk-off field goal against Minnesota in his NFL debut. He is 78-for-93 on field goal attempts, and he was perfect from less than 50 yards last year, but he said nothing compares to his rookie season when he had five game-winning field goals, including one to clinch the AFC North title and two in the playoffs to help the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
An overtime winner at Kansas City in the AFC Championship will be his most remembered, but now he has time to top that.
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