No position is more unpredictable in fantasy football than kickers. Year after year after year, no position has a lower correlation between where they're drafted before the season and where they finish after the season. No position has a lower correlation between how they score in one week and how they score in the next. No position has a lower correlation between projected points and actual points.
In addition, placekicker is the position that has the smallest spread between the best players and the middle-of-the-pack players for fantasy. Finally, most fantasy GMs will only carry one kicker at a time, which means there are a dozen or more starting kickers sitting around on waivers at any given time. Given all of this, it rarely makes sense to devote resources to the position. Instead, GMs are best served by rotating through whichever available kicker has the best weekly matchup.
Every week, I'll rank the situations each kicker finds himself in (ignoring the talent of the kicker himself) to help you find perfectly startable production off the waiver wire.
WEEK 5 RESULTS
Cairo Santos (4 FG attempts, 3 FGs, 2 XPs, 11 points)
Kicking for a potent offense like the Rams' has its benefits, and Santos finished the week tied for 7th at the position despite missing a field goal attempt.
Dan Bailey (2 FG attempts, 2 FGs, 3 XPs, 9 points)
The second-most-accurate kicker in NFL history was on the mark and the Vikings scored a mix of touchdowns and field goals en route to a 13th place finish for Bailey.
Chandler Catanzaro (1 FG attempt, 1 FG, 2 XPs, 5 points)
Catanzaro had a bit more opportunity, but he missed an extra point after Tampa's first touchdown and lost out on a second extra point attempt after a later touchdown when the team went for two to try to get the point back. Catanzaro finished 21st at the position.
Ka'imi Fairbairn (2 FG attempts, 2 FGs, 2 XPs, 8 points)
Fairbairn took advantage of a Texans offense that has been imploding in the red zone recently, kicking two short field-goals to end stalled drives and finishing 15th at the position.
Randy Bullock (0 FG attempts, 0 FGs, 3 XPs, 3 points)
Bullock fell prey to an offense that was too efficient, which is the second-worst fate that can befall a fantasy kicker, (after being paired with an offense that's not efficient enough). Cincinnati's points came entirely off of touchdowns and Bullock finished the week 24th at his position.
WEEK 7 SITUATIONS
**Since streaming kickers is so popular and rostering can vary, here is a list of how favorable every kicker's situation is based on Vegas projected totals and stadium. Quality plays who are especially likely to be on waivers based on NFL.com rostering percentages are italicized and will be highlighted in next week's column.**
Great Plays
Harrison Butker, KC
**Giorgio Tavecchio, Atl
**Cairo Santos, LAR
**Adam Vinatieri, IND
Good Plays
**Chandler Catanzaro, TB
Stephen Gostkowski, NE
Justin Tucker, Bal
**Mike Badgley / Caleb Sturgis, LAC
Dan Bailey, Min
Matt Prater, Det
Jake Elliott, Phi
Wil Lutz, NO
Randy Bullock, Cin
Aldrick Rosas, NYG
Neutral Plays
Brandon McManus, Den
Greg Joseph, Cle
Jason Sanders, Mia
Josh Lambo, Jax
Cody Parkey, Chi
Poor Plays
Phil Dawson, Ari
Ryan Succop, Ten
Jason Myers, NYJ
Graham Gano, Car
Avoid at All Costs
Ka'Imi Fairbairn, Hou
Dustin Hopkins, Was
Robbie Gould, SF
Steve Hauschka, Buf
Brett Maher, Dal
*(The Chargers are currently carrying both Caleb Sturgis and Mike Badgley on their 53-man roster as Sturgis recovers from a strained quad. Early reports suggest that Badgley will likely kick for the team for at least one more week, but since our projections are kicker-agnostic, we endorse and will evaluate whichever of the two winds up getting the start.)