Fantasy Football: Love Your Kickers!

Today, I was watching ESPN and sat in disbelief as these so called "experts" gave fantasy football advice. They discussed kickers and advised that, unless you are a bonehead, you should wait until the very last round of the draft before selecting your kicker. Are you kidding me? What kinds of experts are these guys? They actually get paid to blurt out these useless tips?

I strongly disagree with waiting until the last round to pick your kicker. The only exception would be if you are in one of those weird leagues that only allow three or four bench spots, in which case you would be better off picking your backup quarterback, receiver and running back before your kicker. The only other exception would be if NONE of the other people in your league drafted a kicker before the last round. Otherwise, you should not wait until the last round.

The argument is that you are better off picking a 4^th string receiver or a rookie prospect in the late rounds before picking a kicker. Really? So you'd rather pick up a bench receiver like Andre Davis rather than pick up a consistent kicker like Folk of Dallas? First of all, a guy like Davis will hardly ever start for you, and when he does, he will hardly ever produce for you. And think about it . . . how many of the backs and receivers picked in the late rounds are actually kept on your team? About 85% of those guys end up on waiver wires sooner or later. Yes, you may find a gem late in the round, but if you are playing in a 12 or 14 team league with skilled managers, the chances of that are slim to none.

The other argument is that kickers are a "crapshoot" and it doesn't matter who you have. I totally disagree with this. If it doesn't matter who you have as a kicker, then look at the Packers and 49ers from last year. The Packers kicking game scored a total of 141 points, and that's not even including bonus points for long field goals over 40 yards. The 49ers kicking game scored a pathetic total of 73 points! That's a difference of nearly 70 points! So you still think it doesn't matter who your kicker is??

There is a very simple strategy to picking a kicker. Pick a kicker on a GOOD team! It's such a simple logic, yet people still ignore it, as they could care less who is kicking for their team. If you want evidence of this strategy, look at the top 12 "kick-scoring" teams. Eight of these twelve teams were playoff teams. Now look at the bottom 12 kick-scoring teams. Can you guess how many of these teams were in the playoffs? Yep, you guessed it . . . ZERO!

You could argue that kickers aren't always consistent. You'd be right in that argument, but that argument could apply to nearly every single player! Check this out. The Packer's kicker, Mason Crosby, only had 3 games in the regular season in which he scored 5 points or fewer. Now check this out . . . Terrell Owens, one of the top receivers in fantasy football, had 4 games in which he scored 5 or fewer fantasy points! Actually, it would be 5 games, but we won't count that last game of the season since he didn't even suit up. So, this whole "inconsistency" argument can be flushed down the toilet.

The simple conclusion is this - don't wait too long for a kicker! Your goal should be to get a kicker on a solid offensive team like the Cowboys or Patriots. It also helps to get a kicker who kicks indoors (aka Jason Hanson), as they obviously won't have as many games in which they have to fight the cold and windy conditions.

I'm not saying you should pick a kicker in the 8th or 10th round . . . I'm just saying you shouldn't wait until the very end or you'll end up with a kicker on a team that can never even get in field goal range! Never underestimate the importance of a kicker!!

*Statistics obtained from Yahoo Sports