At first thought kickers are a bunch of sissies and are rather unimportant to your fantasy squad. However some of these guys could actually steal a week or two for you. If you are like me you basically factor in a zero next to your kickers name each week and just hope the rest of your guys can carry the load. But a few of these guys are really underrated and can turn that zero in double digits fairly quickly. If you can land a guy who has a nice long leg and has a track record of being accurate from long range you can really swing things in your favor. Especially in today’s game. The record for most 50+ yard field goals made has been broken each of the last two years and there have been two guys added to the list of guys who have made a 63 yarder in that time frame. We are due for that record to be broken and I personally think it may happen this year. The point is these guys aren’t just scrubs anymore they could become really important to winning your league.

Quick side note before we begin; The fantasy league that I am in and that AP3 runs has this great rule that if your kicker misses a PAT you get a nice fat -10 points. I feel like that should be default for every league.

14. Mike Nugent (Cin)

Nugent doesn’t quite have the leg to nail those 50+ yarders but he is plenty accurate to be useful to you this year. I wouldn’t exactly ride this guy all season but with a pretty nice offense to get him into position to score he should have himself a nice season. Also don’t forget this guy was a former 2nd round draft pick as a kicker, he does have some potential (even if it was the Jets who drafted him that high).

13. Garrett Hartley (NO)

The only downside to Hartley is that the Saints offense might actually be too good. Last season Hartley kicked 57 extra points while only attempting 22 field goals. Match that with the F U mentality that the Saints are going to take on this season and he may not have a ton of opportunities to kick field goals. Nevertheless it’s hard to steer away from a kicker with 57 free points and whom has made 84.5% of his career attempts.

12. Robbie Gould (Chi)

This guy may be the most underrated kicker in the league. The underachieving Bears offense has never exactly helped him out, in fact it put more pressure on him. While dealing with that pressure he has managed to make kicks at over an 85% rate. This year the offense should be much better and put him into better/easier positions to score points.

11. Dan Bailey (Dal)

I have high hopes for the Cowboys offense this year. But not good enough to put him into Hartley’s shoes. Bailey is dynamite on anything but the long ones. Inside 50 yards last season Bailey was a perfect 26/26, while from 50+ he was 3/5 with his longest make being just 51 yards. You may not see him post many +5’s but he certainly won’t leave points on the table and with a better offense he should also get plenty easy/free points.

10. David Akers (Det)

I don’t think anybody on the planet could definitively tell you what to expect from David Akers this season. In 2011 Akers set the single season mark with 44 made field goals, including nine of those coming from 50+. Last season he was just 29/42 and nearly got himself cut before the playoffs. This year I can’t tell you he will return to his old accurate self but I can tell you that he is now kicking for Detroit. That means he will be kicking in a dome most of the time and he is kicking for a team that is among the all time best at stalling drives late. The Lions have an uncanny ability for not finding the paydirt meaning Akers should get a lot of good looks early and often. Will he make them is another question. If he can return to his old self he could once again be the best fantasy football option at kicker this season.

9. Randy Bullock (Hou)

This kid has the leg and the offense to thrive this season. After missing out on all of his rookie campaign last year to a torn groin muscle in training camp, Bullock looks to be healthy and ready to give the Texans a dramatic upgrade over short distance specialist Shayne Graham.

8. Stephen Gostkowski (NE)

This guy is number one on a lot of fantasy draft boards. I can promise you that was not the case for AP3. If you even mention his name he will go on a tirade about how much this guy sucks. Every time he trots onto the field AP3 will start yelling at the TV. While you can look at the fact that he is kicking for a tremendous offense and gets a lot of easy looks and especially PAT’s, you should also look at the fact that the Patriots have paid him far more than they ever would have given Vinatieri, which is insane, and the fact that they haven’t brought in any competition for him this training camp. Sometime you have to go by feel. I watch the Patriots every week and I feel that AP3 is 100% correct. I simply don’t trust him and I definitely don’t trust him now that he is making big money and has no reason to worry about losing his job.

7. Phil Dawson (SF)

Stuck behind a stagnant Browns offense, Dawson was able to make 29/31 attempts including seven from 50+. Now he will take the field in San Francisco. The improvement in offensive talent should help him out tremendously.

6. Matt Bryant (Atl)

Bryant is without the big leg but he hasn’t let that slow him down. Bryant has made 88/98 attempts in his three years as the Falcons main guy. That incredibly talented offense works in his favor as he typically doesn’t need to trot out and attempt 50+ yarders. But expect more of the same, consistency, accuracy and chipping away at a healthy fantasy points total for a kicker.

5. Sebastian Janikowski (Oak)

The best and the worst thing about Janikowski is that he is probably Oakland’s best offensive player. Of course we all know the Polish Cannon has one hell of a strong leg given that he has tied the record of 63 yards and has even attempted a 76 yarder. While I obviously don’t believe he can make a 76 yarder, that’s how much confidence they have in him. Going along with that, the kicker with the second most attempts of 57 yards or more has five. Janikowski... 17. This guy probably should end up in the Hall of Fame and will end up topping that 63 yarder he made in 2011.

4. Justin Tucker (Bal)

This kid proved himself as a clutch kicker in his rookie season last year. His 47 yarder beat the Broncos sending the Ravens into the AFC title game en route to a Super Bowl ring. In 2012 he was 4/4 from 50+ and 30/33 overall. This year you should be able to anticipate right around the same production if not a little more.

3. Matt Prater (Den)

Like Garrett Hartley in New Orleans, the only real downside to riding Prater is that the Broncos offense may actually be too good. However Prater possesses a strong leg and the benefit of playing in the thin air at Mile High Stadium. He also holds the NFL record for most accurate kicker from 50+ by making 15/20 in his career.

2. Greg Zuerlein (Stl)

Have we really lost all faith in Greg the Leg? He is rated 12th by ESPN, 10th by CBS Sports, 19th by Sports Illustrated, 7th by NFL.com, 21st by Walter Football, and 8th on Yahoo!...

Tangent:

Grantland didn’t do anything more than QB’s, RB’s and WR’s (and a “Fantasy Football Preview: New Head Coach Rankings” because that is obviously relevant to the topic fantasy football).

Either Grantland is further behind schedule than we are here, which is hard to believe since this is a two man operation (or less than that if you factor in the fact that I have a full time job and AP3 is basically married while working three different jobs. Meanwhile Grantland employs people to do this for a living), or maybe Grantland’s big shots don’t value the TE, D/ST and Kickers positions enough to cover them enough to write about despite the overpopulated writing department. Or could it possibly be because Grantland sucks and Bill Simmons has lost a step? To put this in terms he would understand (non-NASCAR, get Tony Stewart back on the pod), on the off chance he reads this; Bill your career is like that of Paul Pierce if he remained a Celtic for life while never getting a chance to play with Garnett and Allen. Pierce was also being spread too thin and it could have ended his career early if he wasn’t reinvigorated by KG and Ray. Some of you might think Grantland is his KG and Ray but instead it is Bill’s career post 2007 without Ray Allen and KG to help.

The Greg the Leg talk took me far too many words so click here for his own page… he deserves it in my opinion.

1. Blair Walsh (Min)

Believe it or not the guy that got his own small page isn’t #1. While I think Legatron will become an all time great kicker Blair Walsh has already shown the ability to be one, consistently. While he didn’t have to face what Zuerlein did he does also have a giant leg and gets to kick in a dome. His 10/10 mark from 50+ last season set an NFL record. I’ve spent FAR too many words on fantasy football kickers at this point so I’ll keep this relatively quick in saying that Blair is money. Ride him all season if you end up with him. I would do the same with probably the top 5.

mlz

Saturday, August 24, 2013