Coming up with kicker rankings can often be the bane of a fantasy football manager’s existence. Many want kickers eliminated from fantasy football altogether, claiming that their scoring is too random. While I understand the frustration, kickers are people too. And so are fantasy football managers who welcome the unique challenges that kickers bring to our beautifully flawed game. I do not think we need to remove kickers from our game. Besides, every week we see plenty of examples of random scoring at other positions in fantasy football.
In Week 4 last year, Alvin Kamara had 84 scoreless yards and racked up 21.4 PPR points. Derrick Henry finished second in the NFL in rushing last season and topped 21.4 PPR points just one time. Is anyone (besides me and John Paulsen) clamoring to get rid of PPR scoring? Probably not. What about when a backup running back or tight end vultures a touchdown? Or the famous Rams-Chiefs shootout from a few years ago when the two teams combined to score 105 points and surpass 1000 total yards, yet both DSTs combined for 32 fantasy points? The 32 total fantasy points from both DST units are the same total that Minnesota and Las Vegas combined for in last season’s 3-0 Week 14 contest. Randomness and fantasy football often go hand in hand.
32 kickers played in at least eight games last season. Here is the breakdown from a points-per-game standpoint using Fantrax scoring:
| Player | Team | Games | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Aubrey | DAL | 17 | 10.647 |
| Dustin Hopkins | CLE | 15 | 9.933 |
| Brett Maher | LAR | 8 | 9.625 |
| Ka'imi Fairbairn | HOU | 12 | 9.500 |
| Justin Tucker | BAL | 17 | 9.412 |
| Cairo Santos | CHI | 17 | 9.294 |
| Jason Myers | SEA | 17 | 9.294 |
| Matt Gay | IND | 17 | 9.235 |
| Jake Elliott | PHI | 17 | 9.176 |
| Harrison Butker | KC | 17 | 9.059 |
| Greg Zuerlein | NYJ | 16 | 8.938 |
| Cameron Dicker | LAC | 17 | 8.882 |
| Blake Grupe | NO | 17 | 8.824 |
| Jason Sanders | MIA | 17 | 8.588 |
| Brandon McManus | JAX | 17 | 8.588 |
| Evan McPherson | CIN | 17 | 8.235 |
| Younghoe Koo | ATL | 17 | 8.118 |
| Chase McLaughlin | TB | 17 | 8.000 |
| Tyler Bass | BUF | 17 | 7.824 |
| Chris Boswell | PIT | 17 | 7.824 |
| Lucas Havrisik | LAR | 9 | 7.778 |
| Jake Moody | SF | 17 | 7.706 |
| Nick Folk | TEN | 17 | 7.706 |
| Matt Prater | ARZ | 17 | 7.647 |
| Anders Carlson | GB | 17 | 7.353 |
| Eddy Piniero | CAR | 15 | 7.267 |
| Daniel Carlson | LV | 17 | 7.118 |
| Greg Joseph | MIN | 17 | 7.000 |
| Riley Patterson | DET | 13 | 6.671 |
| Graham Gano | NYG | 8 | 6.250 |
| Joey Slye | WAS | 17 | 6.000 |
| Chad Ryland | NE | 17 | 4.765 |
As you can see, the gap is relatively thin between the top 25 or so options. And that spread may be even thinner if you play elsewhere (shame!) where kickers are not rewarded for longer kicks. Here at Fantrax, a field goal from 40-49 yards results in four points, while a 50+ field goal nets five. More scoring is better for the soul and makes the game more fun for everyone involved.
General Rules and Exceptions
For the most part, we want to find kickers who play on good NFL offenses. All of last year’s top 10 kickers in terms of fantasy points per game were all attached to top-20 scoring teams. Here’s the trick though. We do not always want kickers attached to great NFL offenses.
The San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills were four of only six teams to average at least 25 points per game last season. However, none of their kickers averaged eight or more points per game, a threshold that 18 other team’s kickers accomplished. These four offenses were simply too efficient, particularly inside the red zone. These were the top four teams in the NFL in terms of red zone efficiency last season.
Don’t get me wrong – I would rather have a kicker from any of these teams than a team such as the New York Giants or New England Patriots. But a team with an above-average offense such as Philadelphia or Cincinnati may be a more reliable source of kicker production. The same goes for a team with a middle-of-the-pack offense, especially if that team plays indoors. Examples of teams that fit this bill are Atlanta, Houston, and Indianapolis. I currently have all three of these teams’ primary kickers inside the top 15 in my kicker rankings.
The Dallas Cowboys and Brandon Aubrey appear to be the exception that proves the above rule. Dallas led the NFL in scoring last season, and Aubrey was fantasy’s top kicker. But nearly 28 percent of Aubrey’s fantasy points came as a direct result of field goals of 50 yards or longer. Only Matt Prater had a higher percentage of his fantasy points from 50-plus-yard field goals last season. Mike McCarthy’s trust in Aubrey appears unwavering, and for good reason. Aubrey made a 66-yarder in a preseason game just last week. Aubrey is the top option in my 2024 kicker rankings. Having said that, my advice would be to wait until the final round to secure your kicker. Depending on where your draft slot is, I could understand a desire to draft a kicker in the penultimate round. But that is as far as I would go.
We want to avoid kickers who are on teams with poor offenses. Greg Zuerlien was the only kicker from a bottom-10 offense to finish as a top-15 fantasy kicker last season. And as a Jets fan, I can tell you that was a special case. New York had an abysmal offense, but their elite defense kept them in several games. That enabled them to kick field goals in situations where other teams may not have. I witnessed this firsthand went I went to Las Vegas and watched Zuerlein score 16 fantasy points in a game in which the Jets had neither a touchdown nor a fourth-down conversion attempt. I also got Covid that weekend. Not my most fun trip to Vegas. In any event, the Giants, Patriots, and Panthers are just a few of the teams I am eliminating from my kicker player pool this season.
Another thing to consider is how aggressive certain coaches are in this renewed age of analytics. The five seasons with the highest number of attempted fourth-down conversions in NFL history have all occurred within the last five years. Lions head coach Dan Campbell is notoriously aggressive and does not like to settle for field goals. The Lions have gone for it 118 times on fourth down since Campbell was hired in 2021. Perhaps that will change with Jake Bates now in the fold. Bates made headlines last year by drilling a 64-yard game-winning field goal in Week 1 of the UFL season. That was the first of three kicks of 60 or longer that Bates made for the Michigan Panthers. Bates has the potential to be a high-end fantasy kicker if Campbell affords him enough opportunity.
2024 Kicker Rankings for Fantasy Football
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Aubrey | DAL |
| 2 | Justin Tucker | BAL |
| 3 | Harrison Butker | KC |
| 4 | Younghoe Koo | ATL |
| 5 | Jake Elliott | PHI |
| 6 | Evan McPherson | CIN |
| 7 | Jake Moody | SF |
| 8 | Jason Sanders | MIA |
| 9 | Ka’imi Fairbairn | HOU |
| 10 | Tyler Bass | BUF |
| 11 | Jason Myers | SEA |
| 12 | Cameron Dicker | LAC |
| 13 | Joshua Karty | LAR |
| 14 | Jake Bates | DET |
| 15 | Matt Gay | IND |
| 16 | Blake Grupe | NO |
| 17 | Cam Little | JAC |
| 18 | Cairo Santos | CHI |
| 19 | Matt Prater | ARI |
| 20 | Chase McLaughlin | TB |
| 21 | Greg Zuerlein | NYJ |
| 22 | Dustin Hopkins | CLE |
| 23 | Will Reichard | MIN |
| 24 | Chris Boswell | PIT |
| 25 | Daniel Carlson | LV |
| 26 | Anders Carlson | GB |
| 27 | Nick Folk | TEN |
| 28 | Wil Lutz | DEN |
Feel free to borrow Mick’s 2024 kicker rankings and then head over to check out our 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Kit for more great rankings and analysis.