Andrew Swanson | Wed, Dec 6th 2023, 8:48am EST

Fantasy Football Week 14 Kicker Rankings & Start/Sit Advice

I often joke that fantasy kickers are the red-headed stepchildren of the fantasy community. The amount of effort put in by fantasy managers to adjust their rosters to maximize points from that position is low, with most managers only replacing their drafted kicker on bye weeks.

This can be summed up by comparing the roster percentage of kickers to the other one-player positions like quarterback and tight end. Of the top 12 quarterbacks on Yahoo, only Jordan Love is rostered in fewer than 80% of leagues.

Depending on your scoring, only Taysom Hill is rostered in fewer than 80% of the top 12 tight ends, not counting Mark Andrews, whose roster percentage dropped to 54% because of injury.

Kickers, on the other hand, do not receive much love from fantasy managers. Three of the top five kickers are available in nearly 40% of leagues. Blake Grupe, the seventh-best kicker in fantasy is available in 92% of leagues, and Cairo Santos, the last K1 at 12th overall, is almost completely unrostered.

Hopefully, by reading this article, you understand the value of kickers and that you found some benefit from my rankings. Kickers are people too, and they just might be the difference between making the playoffs and watching from the sideline.

Fantasy Football Week 13 Kicker Rankings & Start/Sit Advice

Here are a few Week 13 strong performances from widely-available kickers

Matt Gay (K – IND) @ Tennessee: 37% roster percentage on Yahoo

Gay posted 14 fantasy points and a second-place finish on the week in what turned out to be a high-scoring game between the Tennessee Titans and the Indianapolis Colts. It was Gay’s seventh game with at least 10 points and he looks to be in line for another strong game this week against the Bengals.

Anders Carlson (K – GB) vs. Kansas City: 3% roster percentage on Yahoo

The younger of the Carlson brothers posted his best season of his rookie campaign with 11 points against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Carlson has just one other double-digit game this year, so I am not looking to add him to my roster for the playoff push, but the Packer offense is making strides and Carlson is someone to watch for 2024.

Week 13 Dud Performances from heavily-owned kickers

Cameron Dicker (K – LAC) vs. New England: 71% roster percentage on Yahoo

There was not a player who stood out as a dud this week, so I decided to pick someone who is rostered in more than 70% of leagues who had a surprisingly bad day. Dicker managed just six fantasy points in what should have been a better day all around for the Los Angeles Chargers. Sure, they won the game, but not being able to score more than six points against the Pats was disappointing.

Kicker Rankings:

Rank	ECR	Name	TEAM	Opponent	Spread	O/U	OPP RZ D	RZ EFF*	OFF RNK	K Score**	Weather
1	1	Brandon Aubrey	DAL	vs. PHI	-3.5	52.5	29	15	5	49	Dome
2	4	Jason Sanders	MIA	vs. TEN	-13.5	47	2	31	1	34	75F, 13 MPH Wind
3	2	Justin Tucker	BAL	vs. LAR	-7	40	15	29	7	51	59F, 22 MPH Wind, Rain
4	8	Younghoe Koo	ATL	vs. TB	-2.5	39	4	10	18	32	Dome
5	3	Harrison Butker	KC	vs. BUF	-2.5	47.5	13	19	8	40	41F, 14 MPH Wind
6	5	Jake Elliott	PHI	at DAL	3.5	52.5	23	23	9	55	Dome
7	6	Jake Moody	SF	vs. SEA	-10.5	47	25	29	3	57	61F, 8 MPH Wind
8	17	Chase McLaughlin	TB	at ATL	2.5	39	1	5	23	29	Dome
9	7	Matt Gay	IND	at CIN	-1	40	17	18	14	49	45F, 17MPH Wind, Rain
10	9	Tyler Bass	BUF	at KC	2.5	47.5	21	30	4	55	41F, 14 MPH Wind
11	10	Blake Grupe	NO	vs. CAR	-5.5	37	30	6	11	47	Dome
12	30	Ka’imi Fairbairn	HOU	at NYJ	-5.5	32	5	12	6	23	58F, Rain, 17 MPH Wind
13	16	Chris Boswell	PIT	vs. NE	-6	30	6	3	26	35	37F, 10 MPH Wind
14	11	Greg Joseph	MIN	at LV	-3	40	27	8	10	45	Dome
15	12	Riley Patterson	DET	at CHI	-3	40	32	20	2	54	36F, Rain, 20 MPH Wind
16	13	Cameron Dicker	LAC	vs. DEN	-3	43	12	27	15	54
17	14	Wil Lutz	DEN	at LAC	3	43	14	7	24	45	Dome
18	15	Brandon McManus	JAC	at CLE	3	30	26	13	12	51	50F, 23 MPH Wind, Rain
19	18	Cairo Santos	CHI	vs. DET	3	40	30	21	20	71	36F, Rain, 20 MPH Wind
20	19	Anders Carlson	GB	at NYG	-6.5	37	24	12	17	53	42F, 13 MPH Wind
21	20	Daniel Carlson	LV	vs. MIN	3	40	9	5	29	43	Dome
22	21	Dustin Hopkins	CLE	vs. JAC	-3	30	18	17	21	56	50F, 23 MPH Wind, Rain
23	22	Jason Myers	SEA	at SF	10.5	47	11	9	19	39	61F, 8 MPH Wind
24	23	Evan McPherson	CIN	vs. IND	1	40.0	16	24	22	62	45F, 17MPH Wind, Rain
25	26	Eddy Pineiro	CAR	at NO	5.5	37	19	14	30	63	Dome
26	27	Lucas Havrisik	LAR	at BAL	7	40	3	25	13	41	59F, 22 MPH Wind, Rain
27	28	Greg Zuerlein	NYJ	vs. HOU	5.5	32	10	0	31	41	58F, Rain, 17 MPH Wind
28	29	Randy Bullock	NYG	vs. GB	6.5	37	8	1	32	41	42F, 13 MPH Wind
29	24	Nick Folk	TEN	at MIA	13.5	47	28	2	27	57	75F, 13 MPH Wind
30	31	Chad Ryland	NE	at PIT	6	30	6	16	26	48	37F, 10 MPH Wind

*Red Zone Efficiency is based on the inverse of how well the kicker’s offense does in the red zone. For example, the Ravens rank third in red zone efficiency; therefore Justin Tucker has a RZ EFF score of 29. The lower the number, the better for kickers, as playing on a team that struggles to score touchdowns in the red zone equates to more field goal opportunities.

**The K Score is the sum of a player’s opponent red zone, the red zone efficiency of his offense and the overall rank of his respective team in terms of total yards. A low score indicates that a kicker has variables working in his favor for a good fantasy kicking performance.

Kicker rankings are based on numerous factors, including matchups, Vegas lines and score projections, weather conditions, the ability of a kicker’s team offense and their ability to move the ball into field goal range, offensive red zone efficiency, and how well the opposing defense limits touchdowns in the red zone. These factors are a guide, but not a definitive way to predict kicking success, as other variables and negative game scripts significantly impact the outcome.

Based on all of the variables mentioned above, the following two kickers are players ranked outside of the FantasyPros ECR top 10 who could be an excellent play in Week 14.

Chase McLaughlin (K – TB) @ Atlanta: 2% roster percentage on Yahoo

High wind and rain is in the forecast for multiple games this week. If you are looking for an indoor kicker with a great K Score, McLaughlin against the Falcons is a great option. Although he managed just seven points when the teams faced off earlier in the season, 10 or more points would not surprise me this week.

Ka’imi Fairbairn (HOU) @ NY Jets: 1% roster percentage on Yahoo

He is coming off an injury and the weather could be an issue in this game. However, as long as he doesn’t get hurt again and the sustained winds stay below 20MPH, Fairbairn could surprise a ton of people and perform well higher than his 30 ECR.

Prediction Review

Each week, I suggest two kickers ranked outside the FantasyPros ECR top 10 who I believe will be solid performers based on the variables described in the K Score section. The following is a review of my picks from the previous week to see where I was successful and where I missed the mark.

Younghoe Koo (K – ATL) @ NY Jets: 58% roster percentage on Yahoo

ECR Rank: 11
My Rank: 4
Week 13 Finish: T9

The game script for Koo turned out exactly how I thought it would, with a low-scoring game against a team that has a stout defense. Koo came through with eight fantasy points and a top-10 finish, but it was disappointing to see that he did not top double-figures.

Nick Folk (K – TEN) vs. Indianapolis: 19% roster percentage on Yahoo

ECR Rank: 12
My Rank: 8
Week 12 Finish: T9

Folk also turned out to be a strong play with eight fantasy points, and he would have had ten points without a change to his holder as a result of an injury to the Titans punter.

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