Fantasy Kickers: Why bother?

[MeShawn]

I have a problem when kickers are drafted early.



Here were the '01 top five kickers and how they finished in '02...

1. Wilkins - 23rd
2. Vanderjact - 17th
3. Elam - 7th
4. K Brown - 27th
5. Feely - 1st


'02 top 5 kickers and how they finished in '03...

1. Feely - 24th
2. Akers - 9th
3. Carney - 15th
4. Longwell - 6th
5. Janikowski - 21st


'03 top 5 kickers and how they finished in '04...

1. Wilkins - 24th
2. Vanderjact - 7th
3. Stover - 9th
4. Kasay - 27th
5. G Anderson - 25th




So in the past three years, 6 out of the 15 kickers dropped out of the top 23 the next year. Only 1 top five kicker repeated his top 5 performance the following year (Jay Feely '01-'02). But that didn't really matter, becuase even after finished 1st in '02, he finished 24th in '03. Wilkins joined him by being #1 in '03, but also finishing an awful 24th the next year.

On average (over the past 3 years), a top 5 kicker finished as the #16 kicker the following year. The #16 kicker isn't even worthy of being owned in most 10-12 team leagues.



Last year, two top 5 kickers, Shayne Graham and Jeff Reed could both be found on the WW.


Fantasy kickers are a crapshoot. The key to a successful fantasy kicker is not how talented the kicker is, but how many opportunities he'll get. And there is no way you can make a prediction based on stats for which team will have the most FG + PAT attempts in a season.

Most like myself, will never draft a kicker until the very end of a draft, but I always see kickers going in the 9th/10th rounds, while great backup QB's, 3rd WR's, and top 10 TE's are still available. You'll be able to find a good number of WW kickers that finish leaps and bounds ahead of the so-called "stud" fantasy kickers that are drafted in the 10th round. Kickers are the most inconsistant position in fantasy football.

[o_street7000]

i got wilkins for 6/350 of my salary cap so im fine with that especially when your system proves nicely for kickers. Id say its all gut feeling, and if you leave a yahoo draft early they often do a nice job on kickers for you ( 2 years ago i got wilkins and venderjat, last year i got akers). so do what you want

[VaderFin]

Most people pick kickers in the 10th round or so because they don't know what else to do. They have a starter at every other position usually and panic. Figure they will fill their team.

[kanezfan11]

Most people pick kickers in the 10th round or so because they don't know what else to do. They have a starter at every other position usually and panic. Figure they will fill their team.

That's how I view it. I either take a kicker in the last round or just don't take one and grab one off FA before the season starts.

[Free Bagel]

Couldn't agree more. I made a big long post about this last offseason and found that the likelihood of a top 5 kicker finishing outside the top 20 the next year is actually way higher than that kicker finishing in the top 5 again the next year.

[Kensat30]

David Akers, a kicker with top10 finishes in the past 8 consecutive years, is not worth more than other kickers?

[The Lung]

Don't draft a kicker at all this year and take Steelers K Jeff Reed off the waiver wire after the draft is over. He converted 17 field goals in a row to finish the regular season, and then went 4 for 4 in the playoffs. He'll enter the 2005 season needing two more to tie Gary Anderson's Steelers record for consecutive field goals.

[Demented Avenger]

Don't draft a kicker at all this year and take Steelers K Jeff Reed off the waiver wire after the draft is over. He converted 17 field goals in a row to finish the regular season, and then went 4 for 4 in the playoffs. He'll enter the 2005 season needing two more to tie Gary Anderson's Steelers record for consecutive field goals.

How many fantasy points do you get for breaking a Steelers franchise record?

[Flockers]

Don't draft a kicker at all this year and take Steelers K Jeff Reed off the waiver wire after the draft is over. He converted 17 field goals in a row to finish the regular season, and then went 4 for 4 in the playoffs. He'll enter the 2005 season needing two more to tie Gary Anderson's Steelers record for consecutive field goals.

How many fantasy points do you get for breaking a Steelers franchise record?

Afinity, duh.

[whoseyourdaddy12]

good post meshawn