2008 Fantasy Football Kickers

A look at the top Kickers in Fantasy Football 2008

This week we are looking at Kickers and Team Defenses for the upcoming fantasy season. Be sure to check out our column on Monday covering WR and TE, by our new columnist Andrew Sicard. Also, be sure to check back next Friday for our pre-season NFL predictions on fantasy and more.

Kickers tend to be overlooked by most fantasy owners. However, this is a position that can help you quite a bit if you can get a kicker who averages about eight points a week. The biggest advantage to putting a quality kicker on your team is consistency. Generally, a quality kicker gets his seven or eight points every week. Whereas a quality RB or WR has weeks where they do not get their usual points (excluding the elite of course). Kickers should still almost always be drafted last among your starters and at least a few backups. They have more value than they are given credit, but the difference between them is just too small to spend a high pick or big money on them.

Last season the difference between the top scoring kicker (Mason Crosby) and the twentieth scorer was only 33 points. While that may seem like a lot it is essentially two points per game. So, to figure out exactly how much value a kicker has can be easily determined by how many games in your league came down to two points or less. If your league has an unusually high number of close games then you might want to consider a higher kicker, but I would argue that you probably just need better luck. All of that leads us to our rankings, which much like quarterbacks tends to change very little year to year. The biggest thing that affects kickers rankings from one year to the next is the team they play on, another similarity to QB’s. Kickers are influenced more than any other position by their teams (QB’s are second, just ask David Carr).

Top Tier Fantasy Kickers

Stephen Gostkowski (Patriots), Nick Folk (Cowboys), Nate Kaeding (Chargers)

These three are all solid but not spectacular kickers. The biggest advantage they have is the teams they play for have outstanding offenses. They will all get their points. Everybody knows that Folk and Gostkowski are solid kickers on excellent teams, though they may get fewer field goal chances than some others. Kaeding is my breakthrough kicker of the year, he is a solid kicker, but more importantly I like the Chargers and Philip Rivers to have a great offensive season.

Second Tier Fantasy Kickers

Shayne Graham (Bengals), Mason Crosby (Packers), Phil Dawson (Browns), Jeff Reed (Steelers), Adam Vinatieri (Colts), Jason Elam (Falcons), Mike Nugent (Jets)

These guys are all excellent bets to get you fantasy points at kicker. I view these guys as all being within five points of the Top Tier Kickers. Every name on this level is well known, and Elam is the only one that may surprise. I actually think that Elam will get a lot of chances to kick field goals with a young offense on the upswing (plus Elam gets to kick indoors instead of in Denver’s snowstorms). I do not think he is considered a sleeper anymore, but look for Nugent to put up excellent numbers. Nugent will benefit more than anybody on that team from the arrival of Brett Favre to the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

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Third Tier Fantasy Kickers

Robbie Gould (Bears), Josh Brown (Rams), Rob Bironas (Titans), Neil Rackers (Cardinals), Josh Scobee (Jaguars), Kris Brown (Texans), Jason Hanson (Lions), Shaun Suisham (Redskins)

These are all solid kickers who will get their points, but will probably be around five points a week on average. A couple guys with a chance to move up are Kris Brown and Shaun Suisham if their teams improve as many expect offensively. Gould had better score a lot for the Bears, because I do not know how else they can get on the board very often.

Fourth Tier Fantasy Kickers

John Kasay (Panthers), Matt Stover (Ravens), Joe Nedney (49ers), Matt Bryant (Bucs), Ryan Longwell (Vikings), David Akers (Eagles)

This level is the geriatric brigade as far as kickers go in the NFL now that Morten Anderson has retired, again. They will all be okay, but these guys are where those two point games will come in to play.

Rookie Kickers

There are really only two rookie kickers that are worth taking a long look at this season. Neither rookie kicker is guaranteed a job. I like both Taylor Mehlhaff (Saints) and Brandon Coutu (Seahawks). If they win the jobs on their respective teams they will both have a chance to put up numbers very similar to Mason Crosby’s numbers last season. They both have the potential to be elite kickers on teams with outstanding offenses. Keep your eye on both of them; they could be elite kickers with your last pick or dollar in a draft.

By Brian Chmielewski
ProFootball-fans.com Fantasy Football Director of Content