In a mic’d up moment during the Cincinnati Bengals’ offseason practices, kicker Evan McPherson revealed a request from special-teams coordinator Darrin Simmons.

“Darrin said something about me potentially getting to 190 (pounds),” McPherson said. ‘I said no sir. I said I might cry if I get to 190.”

Why would an NFL special-teams coordinator care about his kicker’s weight?

Probably the NFL’s new rules aimed at producing more kickoff returns.

“I might have to make more tackles,” McPherson joked. “I’ve got to get in the tackling line now.”

In 2024, NFL kickers will continue to launch kickoffs from their 35-yard line. But their teammates won’t be lined up with them. The other kicking-team players will line up with one foot on the receiving team’s 40-yard line.

The receiving team will have at least nine players deployed between its 35- to 30-yard line. Seven must have a foot on the 35.

No one on the opposing lines of players can move until the football is touched by a returner or hits the ground.

The kick must reach at least the receiving team’s 20-yard line. If it doesn’t, it’s treated as an out-of-bounds kickoff, with possession starting at the receiving team’s 40-yard line.

Kickoffs that come down between the 20 and the goal line must be returned. Touchbacks still exist, with possession starting at the receiving team’s 30-yard line, but the ball must be downed by the receiving team if it doesn’t go past the end line.

“It doesn’t feel too much like football,” McPherson told the Bengals’ official website after working with the new rules for the first time during Cincinnati’s offseason program.

Last season, 76.8 percent of McPherson’s 82 kickoffs went for touchbacks. He figures the new rules will lower that rate in 2024.

“You know with Darrin it’s all about field position,” McPherson said. “We’re going to try and pin them inside the 25. Personally, I loved kicking it in the end zone.”

The change in strategy will be take an adjustment from McPherson.

“It brings a lot of placement into play,” McPherson said. “It’s all touch. It feels weird for me. I’m used to kicking it as high as I can as hard as I can. Now I have to throw it inside to the 5-yard line in specific areas. It’s definitely an adjustment. You have to play the wind a lot more now.”

But McPherson probably won’t have to make more tackles. Because the kicker can’t cross the 50-yard line until the ball is caught or downed under the new rules, he probably will continue to be what he is now – the last man between the football and the goal line on a breakaway return.

A Fort Payne High School standout, McPherson joined the Bengals from Florida in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s made 78-of-93 field-goal attempts and 126-of-132 extra-point tries in 49 regular-season games. In seven playoff games, McPherson had made all 19 of his field-goal attempts, earning him the nickname “Money Mac.”

With 21, McPherson has made 13 more field goals of 50 or more yards than any other player in the Bengals’ history, and he’s tied for the most 50-yarders in the NFL since he entered the league in 2021 – and that doesn’t include his three postseason 50-yarders.

Because McPherson has played three seasons, he is eligible for a contract extension. If he doesn’t get one, McPherson would become an unrestricted free agent next offseason – if the Bengals don’t use their franchise tag on him.

“I don’t think timing is a huge deal for me,” McPherson said about a new contract. “It’s going to happen when it happens because if you’re so focused on that, you’re going to take your mind off other things, so it’s just being at peace with whatever happens. There’s other opportunities out there if it doesn’t happen here, but I really hope it does.”

The Bengals’ veteran players are scheduled to report for training camp on July 23.

Cincinnati will kick off its three-game preseason schedule on Aug. 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will open its regular-season slate on Sept. 8 against the New England Patriots.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at@AMarkG1.