It’s time to get rid of kickers in fantasy football. Let me be clear. This is not some knee-jerk response to having lost a fantasy football matchup to a god-tier kicker performance. I genuinely dislike having to worry about a kicker in fantasy football. Let me give you my case.
Kickers Aren’t Fun
It’s fun to try and predict which running back or wide receiver is going to have a big matchup. Benching your regular starter with a tough matchup for a bench player with a favorable matchup and having it work out feels great. Has anyone ever spent a bunch of time trying to figure out which kicking matchup is more favorable? I don’t. I have one kicker on my roster and that’s it. On the bye week, I pick up someone new. I find zero joy in the kicker position. It’s time to get rid of kickers in fantasy football.
There’s Little Strategy In Kickers
Trying to pick the highest-scoring kicker is an impossible task. There is so much guesswork involved. You are trying to pick an offense that is going to move the ball well but stall out in the red zone. Ultimately, you end up just picking a kicker from a decent offense and hope it goes well. The variance in kickers from year to year makes it impossible to predict which kickers will be good from year to year. Here are the year-by-year points leaders in kicking.
2016: Matt Bryant ATL
2017: Greg Zuerlein LAR
2018: Ka’imi Fairbairn HOU (I’ve never heard of this person before today)
2019: Harrison Butker KC
2020: Jason Sanders MIA
2021: Nick Folk NE
There is no consistency from year to year. The only exception is Justin Tucker. He is consistently in the top 10 of fantasy kickers but he might be the best kicker ever to play the game. Everyone else is a one-hit wonder that flames out the next year. It makes kickers impossible to predict from year to year. It’s time to get rid of kickers in fantasy football.
Kicker Scoring Is Completely Unbalanced
Maybe you don’t agree with my statement to get rid of kickers in fantasy football. After all, the idea of fantasy football is to create a fictional football team. Kickers are a part of the team and therefore should be included. If you are adamant about having a kicker then the scoring has to be changed. In most leagues that I have been a part of, the kicker scoring goes as follows.
Extra Points: 1 point
Field Goals 39 yards and under: 3 points
Field Goals 40-49 yards: 4 points
Field Goals 50+: 5 points
Why is the kicker position the only one that gets more fantasy points than actual points scored? Running backs get 6 points per touchdown. Quarterbacks often only get 4 points for a touchdown! Imagine if a 50-yard touchdown run netted you more fantasy points than a 1-yard run. That would be ridiculous and yet we do that for kickers. If you aren’t going to get rid of kickers in fantasy football, let’s at least adjust the scoring.
The Weird Scoring Leads To Weird Wins And Losses
We’ve all been there. Your team is having a solid week and the win is looking imminent. And then some kicker gets the random 7 field goal game. Even if all of the kicks are under 40 yards, that still is a massive 21-point output from your kicker. If any of them are above 40 yards, you are looking at a near 30-point performance from a kicker. Kickers win football games but not with massive scoring surges. It usually is on a last-second field goal. Get rid of kickers in fantasy football. Make wins and losses be determined by the skill positions and not the kickers.
Get rid of kickers in fantasy football. At the very least let’s adjust the scoring on them. I don’t think anyone would be upset at picking another skill position or just eliminating the kickers altogether. Defenses often get lumped into the kicker conversation but at least those starts have some strategy involved. Take the least fun part about fantasy football out. Get rid of kickers in fantasy football.
