Pro Football24x7’s Spotlight Fantasy Placekicker
The draft strategy for place kickers is very simple. Draft one with your last pick. History has shown us that the point differential between the top and the twelfth kicker is very small. Stephen Gostkowsi of the Patriots led all fantasy kickers with one hundred and fifty nine points in 2008, Josh Brown of the Rams was twelfth, he scored 134. This breaks down to 1.6 points a game for a sixteen week season. That type of difference has been consistent for the past 20 years.
You are gaining little value by reaching for kicker any earlier than your last pick. For your bye week grab one off the waiver wire taking into consideration the match ups for that week.
Play it safe with this pick, take no risk. Stay away from kickers who play on teams with weak offenses such as Phil Dawson of the Browns. Also, although Adam Vinatieri plays for the Colts, he had hip surgery in June, he is ranked high because of the Colt offense but why take a chance on a player who could be less effective or even miss games because he re-injures himself?
Mason Crosby of the Packers is at the top because of leg strength and Aaron Rodgers has a season of experience running the effective Packer offense.
You can feel safe with any of my top 16 ranked kickers, be aware of course of Vinatieri’s situation.
As far as a kicker who could rise close to the top, consider Garrett Hartley of the Saints. I have him down at 16 because he is just in his second year and did not join the Saints to mid way last season. The positives are, the Saint offense is high powered, he will kick inside in more than half their games, and Hartley made all of his field goal attempts in 2008 after joining the Saints.
