I’m not a rule follower. The creed emblazoned on the McBrayer Clan crest reads “In Defiance.” This is obviously in reference to the border clans rebelling against the English monarchy in the 17th century, with William Wallace and all that mess. The lineage apparently still hasn’t shed all of its defining traits over the years. I like to push boundaries.
It feels like being drawn and quartered to take a stand against kickers in fantasy football when some of my dearest friends are the gold standard in kicking analytics. I am not against kickers in fantasy, but instead, the act of using a precious draft pick on one. There is no rule against filling your roster with any concoction of players, regardless of position. It’s July. Draft the best team and figure out your starting lineup in eight weeks, like the weirdos who don’t draft until training camp is over.
- Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
- Draft Targets for Every Round: Early | Middle | Late
- Fitz’s Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Expert Consensus Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
Don’t Draft a Kicker Strategy (2023 Fantasy Football)
No, it does not matter how many rounds your fantasy drafts are scheduled for. You need not draft a kicker (or a defense, for that matter). When it comes to “sticky” stats, there’s more turnover in kicker scoring year-over-year than with a gas station graveyard shift. Justin Tucker is the best kicker to ever play the game and was the K1 last season. Cool, right? He was K4 in 2021 and K7 in 2020. In fact, his 9.6 fantasy points per game were a minuscule 0.1 more than Daniel Carlson and Brett Maher. Maher, you might note, is still without employment after a couple of bad games late last season.
There is also the issue of the points per game we can expect from kickers, in general. The double-digit rounds are for taking shots on players with double-digit scoring upside. Drafting a kicker instead of having the edge of one more dice roll is a negative value hit to your roster.
It becomes less of a certainty as we approach Week 1, but injuries happen. I haven’t drafted a kicker in three years across any of my leagues. I’ve nearly always been able to pick one up on waivers before Week 1 without dropping anyone, thanks to open IR spots. Last season, it was Jason Myers. The season before that was Carlson, with 2020 being the year of Younghoe Koo. A hot kicker will always be available.
So who are your waiver wire kicking targets? I’ve lined up a few names to keep an eye on this summer, but keep your hands out of the cookie jar until setting that Week 1 lineup. Of course, this is subject to change because kicker values float in the breeze like dandelion seeds.
- Michael Badgley (K – DET)
- Jake Moody (K – SF)
- Jason Sanders (K – MIA)
- Graham Gano (K – NYG)
- Cameron Dicker (K – LAC)
- Joey Slye (K – WAS)
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