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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff WriterDec 4, 2024, 04:10 PM ET
- Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
CINCINNATI — Bengals kicker Evan McPherson is headed to injured reserve with a right groin injury, the team announced Tuesday.
The fourth-year kicker out of Florida suffered the injury in last weekend’s loss to the Steelers, but it’s unclear when exactly the issue occurred. He made his only field goal attempt in the 44-38 loss and also made all five of his point-after attempts.
In a corresponding move, Cincinnati added Cade York to the practice squad. York, a fourth-round draft selection by the Browns in 2022, was most recently with the Commanders following a trade by Cleveland in August.
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In 17 games with Cleveland, York struggled. He was 24-of-32 on field goal attempts and 35-of-37 on extra-point attempts. In August, the Browns traded him to the Commanders for a conditional seventh-round pick. In the team’s season-opener against the Buccaneers, he missed both of his field goal attempts and was released.
McPherson played a major role in Cincinnati’s run to the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. In August, he signed a three-year contract extension worth $16.5 million, including $5 million guaranteed. However, he has had accuracy issues this season. His field goal percentage of 72.7% ranks 29th among 34 qualifying players, according to ESPN Research.
York has familiarity with a couple of Bengals players. He was a freshman at LSU for the team that won the national championship and featured quarterback Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, who are now teammates in Cincinnati.
In an additional move, the Bengals signed offensive tackle Andrew Steuber to the active roster. He has played in four games this season but waived and added to the practice squad ahead of the Week 13 game against the Steelers.
