Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings & Start/Sit Advice (Week 12)

After a season low in which only five players reached double figures in Week 10, fantasy football managers were treated to a bonanza of points last week, with 14 different kickers topping 10+ fantasy points.

Five of the top eight fantasy kickers are rostered in over 65% of leagues, including Wil Lutz, who finally posted his first big game of the year with 18 fantasy points in Denver’s big divisional showdown versus Kansas City.

Ironically, the surge in fantasy points occurred on a week in which the league saw a ridiculous seven extra points missed, including a pair of shanks from Lucas Havrisik and Eddy Pineiro.

Wind played a part in some of those extra point misses, and will continue to be more of an issue as we head down the final quarter of the season.

Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings & Start/Sit Advice: Week 12

Widely Available Kickers With Strong Week 11 Performances

Cairo Santos (K – CHI) @ Minnesota: 25% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

Cairo Santos has been on a bit of a heater as of late, with 10+ fantasy points in three of his last four games, including 15 against the Vikings. He has a pair of advantageous matchups at home against the Steelers and on the road against the Eagles next week, making him an interesting waiver wire claim.

Matthew Wright (K – HOU) @ Tennessee: 1% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

Matthew Wright posted a solid 12-point performance against the Titans and continues to benefit from a strong K Score created by a poor red-zone offense and one of the best defenses in the league. He is just a placeholder for Ka’imi Fairbairn, who should reclaim the kicking job this week and could be a decent play at home against a Bills team that has struggled on the road.

Widely Rostered Kickers With Dud Week 11 Performances

Jake Bates (K – DET) @ Philadelphia: 90% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

Jake Bates was one of the players who missed an extra point on Sunday after a personal foul by Jameson Williams pushed his extra-point attempt back 15 yards. Although he salvaged the day with five points, it was not a great day, given the success of other kickers.

Week 12 Kicker Rankings

Rank	ECR	Name	TEAM	VS	O/U	Spread	OPP RZ D	RZ EFF*	OFF RNK	Consistency	Weather	K Score**
1	1	Brandon Aubrey	DAL	vs. PHI	49.5	3.5	3	19	3	1	0	29.5
2	5	Cairo Santos	CHI	vs. PIT	44.5	-3	6	12	4	3	2	24
3	4	Tyler Loop	BAL	vs. NYJ	44.5	-13.5	13	4	21	2	2	28.5
4	2	Jason Myers	SEA	at TEN	40.5	-13.5	18	22	6	3	3	38.5
5	8	Chase McLaughlin	TB	at LAR	49.5	6.5	2	7	17	3	0	35.5
6	3	Chris Boswell	PIT	at CHI	44.5	3	13	23	28	2	2	71
7	10	Michael Badgley	IND	at KC	49.5	3.5	10	29	1	3	3	49.5
8	6	Jake Bates	DET	vs. NYG	49.5	-10.5	32	27	5	4	0	57.5
9	11	Harrison Butker	KC	vs. IND	49.5	-3.5	24	25	7	4	3	59.5
10	7	Andy Borregales	NE	at CIN	48.5	-7.5	30	15	9	3	2	51.5
11	9	Cam Little	JAC	at ARI	47.5	-2.5	18	13	20	3	0	51.5
12	30	Blake Grupe	NO	vs. ATL	38.5	-1.5	20	0	26	4	0	48.5
13	12	Eddy Pineiro	SF	vs. CAR	47.5	-6.5	9	21	10	2	3	38.5
14	13	Will Reichard	MIN	at GB	41.5	6.5	22	16	27	2	3	76.5
15	14	Jake Elliott	PHI	at DAL	49	-3.5	29	31	25	3	0	84.5
16	26	Brandon McManus	GB	vs. MIN	41.5	-6.5	4	28	12	5	3	45.5
17	27	Matthew Wright	HOU	vs. BUF	43.5	5.5	12	1	19	1	0	38.5
18	15	Chad Ryland	ARI	vs. JAC	47.5	2.5	27	14	14	3	0	60.5
19	16	Matt Prater	BUF	at HOU	43.5	-5.5	28	27	2	4	0	55.5
20	21	Daniel Carlson	LV	vs. CLE	36.5	-3	7	2	30	2	0	38
21	17	Harrison Mevis	LAR	vs. TB	49.5	-6.5	26	24	8	3	0	54.5
22	19	Zane Gonzalez	ATL	at NO	38,5	1.5	21	20	16	1	0	59.5
23	23	Nick Folk	NYJ	at BAL	44.5	13.5	15	9	29	0	2	68.5
24	24	Younghoe Koo	NYG	at DET	49.5	10.5	25	5	15	3	0	58.5
25	25	Ryan Fitzgerald	CAR	at SF	47.5	-6.5	16	12	22	3	3	49.5
26	28	Joey Slye	TEN	vs. SEA	40.5	13.5	11	3	32	2	3	64.5
27	29	Andre Szmyt	CLE	at LV	36.5	3	16	8	31	3	0	61
28	18	Evan McPherson	CIN	vs. NE	48.5	7.5	31	18	23	3	2	84.5

*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 28th in red zone efficiency; therefore, Tyler Loop has an RZ EFF score of four. 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 FantasyPros’ top-10 expert consensus rankings (ECR) at the kicker position who could be excellent plays in Week 12.

Week 12 Standout Kickers

Harrison Butker (K – KC) vs. Indianapolis: 43% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

There are not many standout K Score plays this week, and the fantasy industry did a solid job of ranking heading into Week 12. I do think Harrison Butker is ranked a bit below his projected score and should be a top-10 play.

Blake Grupe (K – NO) vs. Atlanta: 3% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

For managers in search of a home run play and who are open to being risky, Blake Grupe at home against the Falcons is an interesting play.

Grupe’s K Score of 48 suggests a game between seven and 10 fantasy points, and the Falcons are going to struggle without Michael Penux Jr. under center. Not for the faint of heart, but he will most certainly outperform his ECR of 30.

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.

Harrison Butker (K – KC) @ Denver: 43% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

ECR Rank: K12
My Rank: K3
Week 11 Finish: K18

Harrison Butker missed an extra point that took away a chance to post a 10-point performance and a solid finish for fantasy managers. That has been the biggest knock on the veteran kicker this year. He has struggled with accuracy and continues to limit his value.

Jason Myers (K – SEA) @ Los Angeles Rams: 70% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

ECR Rank: K12
My Rank: K14
Week 11 Finish: K2

My biggest regret about Jaon Myers this past week was not ranking him higher. I had a feeling Sam Darnold would struggle against the Rams’ defense and the game would be more of a field goal game than some projected.

Still, I was pleased to see him finish with a top-three score that hopefully helped some fantasy managers.

Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

Cairo Santos (K – CHI) vs. Pittsburgh: 25% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
Harrison Butker (K – KC) vs. Indianapolis: 43% Roster Percentage on Yahoo

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About Author

Andrew Swanson

@FFKickerGuy

In addition to his work as a featured writer for FantasyPros, Andrew is a staff writer for fftoday.com and the webmaster/beat writer for ESPN Radio in Albuquerque, NM. Outside of writing about sports, Andrew is a Children’s Book author with three books available on leading retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.com. His first title, “Bella’s Magic Dream Glasses” debuted number one on Amazon’s hot new releases for large print children’s picture books. Visit www.andrewswansonbooks.com for more information.