Kickers Corner

Are you ready to continue to build your lineups from the bottom up?  If you have not yet done so, check out my posting for Defenses Here.  For many, the way to build is to start from the top, pick out the QB that they want. They leave Def and Kicker to the end and just take whomever you can fit.  For some, they choose to start at the bottom and work their way to the top.  This way no spot goes without proper thought.  I am here to help you by doing that research for you with the focus at the bottom of the roster.

Before the Pick Research

I love to play on Fanduel and one of those reasons is that I believe that the Kicker gives us an advantage.  So many people roster whatever cheap kicker they can place.  About as much thought goes into who they play kicker as they do who’s the boss.  The best thing is, the Kicker might be one of the easiest spots to select.  If you want to know what I look for in selecting a kicker I have you covered in my How to Pick a Kicker to find out.

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For a quick refresher remember these tips

1. Teams expected to score over 24 points and favored to win preferably at home.
2. Teams who play indoors or where the weather is not an issue.
3. Kickers who can actually kick the ball from distance with high accuracy.
4. forget about the price, and focus on the skill.

The main reason we want to focus on everything but ignore the price is that no other position on your roster will have more chance to return points based on the difference in salary.  Top priced kickers are 5100, the bottom price is 4500.  Many top options will fall into the 4700 range, that means for 200 more you could easily grab a 15 point kicker whereas the 4500 guys may only be good for 8.

INJURY NOTE:

Dan Bailey is out DO NOT USE HIM.

Cash Kickers

Cash kickers will be kickers who can score us a solid 8-10 points.  If they get more that is great, but we really need that safety floor just like any other roster spot.  This could be 1 FG and 3 XP or it could be all FGs.  To find these we will strictly follow the rules laid out above.

• Matt Bryant
• Josh Lambo
• Chris Boswell

Matt Bryant

If Bryant was not able to kick well from 50+ yards he might be a full fade even in this matchup against Dallas.  Dallas has not been the best defensive team in the league.  Still, I am not thrilled to play Bryant because he has been in soft matchups before and not been great.  Atlanta has struggled to do much with the ball this season.  Getting even worse in the second half of games.  Bryant gets enough checkmarks to make him Cash safe.  I could see the ability to get to 20 points if things go his way.

Josh Lambo

With Lambo not costing us an arm and a leg, we can use him for cash even if he forgets to check a few boxes.  Much like two seasons ago we used McManus for our kicker a lot because of how solid the Den Def played.  Lambo is now brought into almost every week consideration for us this season.  Jaguars are favored and at home so missing the ITT by just a few points is not the end of the world.  Lambo is still new this season so he has a limited showing making it hard to trust him for a big game.

Chris Boswell

With Boswell not kicking anything over 50 yards yet this season we have to worry about his upside.  This is a matchup that screams play Boswell however because he is a great kicker even on the road.  If Pitt gets ahead and gives Boswell enough chances he could put up a big score.  I see it as being more of a 10-12 point kind of week which would be great for cash.

Hybrid Plays

If you are not sure why a hybrid play is I suggest checking out a Geek Favorite to understand what I am talking about.  A quick breakdown, however, is these are players who carry a little more risk for more upside. This is an area where we can kind of skip some of the rules or interpret them our own way.

• Greg Zuerlein
• Matt Prater
• Ryan Succop

Greg Zuerlein

The highest priced kicker on the slate is also probably one of the best plays this week.  This is the kind of matchup where Zuerlein can put up 20+ points.  Let us start with the defense they are facing.  Houston is much softer against the pass than the rush.  Rams are a rush first team who is able to pass.  That normally translates into the Rams move the ball but stall out when it comes to the RZ.  KICKING OPPORTUNITIES!

The Rams have a solid defense and get to face a quarterback in his 2nd week as a starter.  This should lead to the time of possession, turnovers, field position, and MORE KICKING OPPORTUNITIES!  When you combine all of this with the fact that the Leg could probably kick it consistently from 57+ yards most weeks, we grab ourselves a great value even at the high price.

Matt Prater

Detroit has one of the best offenses in the NFL right now when it comes to moving the ball.  They are also one of the worst when it comes to red zone percentage.  That is bad for pass catchers as they are limited in scoring opportunities, but it is great for kickers  Prater is the 2nd highest priced kicker, and I do believe that price is perfectly fitting.  Prater is the 2nd best kicker this slate and should easily put up 15 points this weekend.

Ryan Succop

This one is a risky play with upside.  It is risky for two reasons.  First, the most likely outcome from this week is Succop is good for 10 – 12 points.  Second, the second most likely outcome for this matchup is under 10 points.  There is a chance that Succop can get a 15-20 point game for us.  Ten at home against Bengals is a great spot to get points from a kicker.  Facing a good defense can lead to fewer TDs and as long as the offense is good enough to move the ball that leads to more kicks.  Bengals are also not good enough on offense to make this a one-sided game keeping Succop’s leg relevant for the whole thing.

GPP Kickers

This group of kickers may score you 0 points but they offer the upside of 20 points if things go your way.  These are the guys you may only play if you are going MME and looking to be different.  They are also the kickers who may win you that 30,000 person contest.  Of course, they are also the same ones who could lose it for you.  RISK BE WARNED!

• Stephen Gostkowski
• Aldrick Rosas
• Adam Vinatieri
• Kai Forbath

These kickers are risky.  Each offers something that I see where we could end up with a great score.  For more on that join me in Slack and let’s talk about them together.