All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings
When the topic of fantasy kickers come up, it makes us feel like Allen Iverson when someone asks him about practice: “Kickers? You want to talk about kickers?”
Still, championship-caliber fantasy teams usually have a good kicker, so it is important to stay awake in the final rounds of your fantasy draft to ensure that you get someone decent.
We generally approach the kicker position with the following strategy:
1. Pick players that kick for teams with a good offense.
Good offense means touchdowns, and with TDs come extra points. Players who kick a lot of extra points are generally more consistent week-to-week than kickers who get more of their scoring from field goals. It’s better to have someone who is going to score four XPs every week than it is to have a guy that may or may not get 2-3 field goals.
2. Pick players that kick in good weather (or indoors).
There are plenty of good players who kick in bad weather. It’s fine to draft Mason Crosby or Robbie Gould, but do you really want to run them out there in Week 16 when there are 30 mph crosswinds in Green Bay or Chicago? If you want to pick a kicker and pretty much forget about the position, grab a guy that plays in warm weather or, better yet, kicks indoors. If you do pick a bad weather kicker — and we’re going to recommend two good ones — be prepared to make a change late in the season.
The top 10 offenses of 2008 belonged to the Saints, Broncos, Texans, Cardinals, Patriots, Falcons, Giants, Packers, Eagles and Panthers. Eight of those teams had kickers who finished in the top 13: Stephen Gostkowski, David Akers, John Carney, Jason Elam, Mason Crosby, Kris Brown, John Kasay and Matt Prater. The Saints had three kickers throughout the season and the Cardinals were in the bottom 10 in field goal attempts.
The other kickers in the top 13 – Rob Bironas (TEN), Rian Lindell (BUF), Matt Bryant (TB), Ryan Longwell (MIN) and Josh Brown (STL) – played for teams that fought through suspect play out of the quarterback position. These are teams that didn’t have a very dynamic offense, so they had trouble punching the ball into the endzone. Moreover, Tennessee and Minnesota were both in the top 7 in total rushing yards, while Buffalo and Tampa Bay were #14 and #15 in that category, respectively. These teams could move the ball, but they couldn’t finish off drives very well.
Keeping all of this in mind, here are a few guys that should have top 10 years but won’t cost you much on draft day. Savvy fantasy owners shouldn’t even think about the kicker position until the 15th round, so we’ll limit this list to guys that are going that late.
Rob Bironas (15.04)
Bironas has finished as PK2 the last two seasons, so there must be something about the Titans’ approach that lends itself to kicker scoring. We’ll chalk it up to a good defense and a strong running game.
Mason Crosby (15.06)
Crosby was the top overall kicker in 2007 and PK9 last season. The Packers figure to have a top 10 offense again in ’09, so Crosby should get plenty of opportunities. Though be warned, GB plays at Chicago, at Pittsburgh and hosts Seattle during the fantasy playoffs, so be prepared to pick up another kicker if the weather turns.
Garrett Hartley (16.11)
Fantasy owners are sleeping on Hartley. He didn’t start kicking until Week 10, and averaged 9.2 points over the last eight weeks. Those are PK4 numbers and the Saints figure to have a very good offense again this season. We’re targeting him this year.
Update: Hartley has been suspended for four games and the Saints have signed John Carney. We’re not targeting Hartley anymore. (Carney looks like a nice pick.)
Kris Brown (16.01)
Brown was PK10 in 2008 and PK8 in 2007. He kicks indoors and the Texans have a pretty good offense.
Robbie Gould (16.09)
Gould was PK1 in 2006, PK5 in 2007 and PK16 in 2008. With Jay Cutler under center, the Bears figure to have a much more potent offense in ’09, so Gould should get plenty of opportunities to score. Just like Crosby, Gould’s fantasy playoff schedule isn’t the best (vs. GB, @ BAL, vs. MIN) so be prepared to pick another kicker up down the stretch.
Here are our official kicker rankings, by tier:
1. Stephen Gostkowski
2. Nate Kaeding
3. Garrett Hartley
4. Rob Bironas
5. Mason Crosby
6. Robbie Gould
7. David Akers
8. Jason Elam
9. Kris Brown
10. Ryan Longwell
11. Lawrence Tynes
12. Nick Folk
13. John Kasay
14. Matt Bryant
15. Adam Vinatieri
16. Shayne Graham
17. Joe Nedney
18. Rian Lindell
19. Jeff Reed
20. Josh Brown
21. Matt Prater
22. Josh Scobee
23. Josh Brown
24. Jason Hanson
25. Phil Dawson
26. Shaun Suisham
27. Olindo Mare
28. Dan Carpenter
