Death, taxes and my taking a kicker in the last round, if at all.
You read that correctly; if my fantasy draft is more than a week before the season starts, I’ll opt to take a flier on a player who’s maybe in a backfield where there’s injury uncertainty over a kicker. I’ll then wait until the very last moment to snag a kicker off waivers. That’s how unimportant and random kickers are on the fantasy football gridiron.
Still, I’m not in favor of removing them from rosters. It’s a fun wild card and adds a touch of chaos to each week. What’s better than gloating to your buddy after winning by single digits because your kicker made a few field goals on Monday night?
Assuming the top-level kickers are gone, here are some fliers I’ll target (and I use that word loosely) in the very last round of my drafts.
- More Fantasy Football Advice
- Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
- Expert Consensus Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
- Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
Kickers To Target at the End of Drafts (2023 Fantasy Football)
Jason Sanders (K – MIA)
Jason Sanders is going as the K7 right now, per FantasyPros Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR). In Week 1, he’s in Los Angeles (essentially a dome) to face the Chargers. This game has the second-highest implied point total of the week, at 50.5 points. The Dolphins are two-and-a-half-point underdogs, but given the nature of these two offenses, I’d be shocked if the Dolphins didn’t put up quite a few points. Brandon Staley and the Chargers like to go for it on fourth down, which is why I’m leaving Cameron Dicker off the list.
Brandon McManus (K – JAX)
Brandon McManus attempted 13 field goals of 50+ yards last season, tied for second-most in the NFL. The Jaguars are a Week 1 favorite in Indianapolis, a domed stadium. The over/under (43.5) isn’t exorbitant, and the Jaguars do go for it on fourth down more than we’d like. Still, this does feel like the perfect storm for McManus, who’s going as K9 in drafts.
Greg Joseph (K – MIN)
The Vikings open the season at home (in a dome) against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Vikings are favored by nearly a touchdown, and the over/under (45.5) is on the average-to-high side of things. Joseph is going as the K13, and I’d be more than confident rolling him out in Week 1. Joseph missed only one field goal from inside 50 yards last season.
Titans Kicker
You don’t always need a high-scoring team or game to produce a great kicking performance that simply heightens your floor. Last season, in Week 1, the Falcons and Browns produced K1 and K2. These teams scored 26 points each. The third highest-scorer was Ryan Succop, whose Buccaneers scored 19.
I’m dubbing either Caleb Shudak or Trey Wolff as my random-kicker-goes-bananas-in-low-scoring-game play of Week 1. Shudak played one game for the Titans last season and made three of four attempts. Wolff is an undrafted rookie. The Titans also rarely go for it on fourth down.
More Players to Target & Avoid
- Pat Fitzmaurice: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Andrew Erickson: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Derek Brown: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Fantasy Football Sleepers for Every Team (Premium)
- How to Identify Fantasy Football Busts (Premium)
- Erickson’s Guide to Drafting Players on Good Offenses
- Fantasy Football Draft Values for Every Round
- Predicting First-Round Bust Candidates
- DBro’s Wide Receiver Lottery Tickets
- Erickson’s Running Back Lottery Tickets
- Players to Target in Each Round (v2 | v3)
- Players to Avoid in Each Round
- Late-Round Draft Targets
- Late-Round QB Targets in Superflex Leagues | More QB Sleepers
- Late-Round RB Targets | More RB Sleepers | July RB Targets
- Late-Round WR Targets
- Late-Round TE Targets
- Deep Dart Throw Draft Targets
- WRs to Target in the RB Dead Zone (v2)| RBs to Avoid in the RB Dead Zone | RBs to Target in RB Dead Zone
- Identifying the Next WR1s | Identifying the Next RB1s
- 2022 Duds That Will Become 2023 Studs
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