Photo: USA Today Sports

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 a dozen or more starting kickers are 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 1 Results

Greg Joseph (1 FG attempt, 1 FG, 2 XPs, 5 points)

Minnesota's offense was moving the ball against Tampa Bay but stalled out too often, resulting in only three scoring drives. Joseph's five points were a disappointing start for our top recommendation, ranking just 22nd at the position.

Cameron Dicker (2 FG attempts, 2 FGs, 4 XPs, 10 points)

Dicker was one of our two big hits of the week with field goals from 25 and 50 and four extra points. The Chargers were unable to get into position for a game-winning field goal at the end, but Dicker still scored 10 points, which ranked tied for 6th among all kickers.

Brandon McManus (1 FG attempt, 1 FG, 4 XPs, 7 points)

McManus had a fairly average day, making a 45-yarder and every extra point and scoring 7 points, which ranked 18th at the position.

Wil Lutz (2 FG attempts, 1 FG, 1 XP, 4 points)

Lutz's opportunities were fine, but his accuracy was disappointing for a team that traded to acquire him this offseason. Lutz missed a 55-yard field goal and an XP in a game Denver lost by a single point. Denver moved the ball well, only punting twice and not committing any turnovers. The biggest problem was actually the pace of play, as Denver finished with just six offensive drives on the afternoon. Lutz's four points tied for 25th among kickers.

Brandon Aubrey (2 FG attempts, 2 FGs, 4 XPs, 10 points)

Aubrey missed his first extra point as a professional football player, but everything was smooth sailing from there. Aubrey converted from 21 and 38 yards, and the Cowboys dominated the Giants 40-0. His 10 points tied for 6th this week.

Results To Date

To date, Rent-a-Kicker has made five weekly recommendations. Those five kickers have averaged 7.2 points, compared to 6.82 in 2022, 8.45 in 2021, 7.39 in 2020, and 7.39 in 2019. That average would currently rank just 18th at the position, but rankings aren't too meaningful on such small samples. (Last year, 7.2 points per game would have translated into a 9th-place finish.) We'll continue to track averages and ranks over time, and in a few weeks we'll begin comparing to the Top 12 kickers by preseason ADP.

Week 2 Situations

**Here is a list of the teams with the best matchups based on Vegas projected totals and stadium, along with the expected kicker for each team. The top five players who are on waivers in over 50% of leagues based on NFL.com roster percentages are italicized and will be highlighted in next week's column. Also, note that these rankings specifically apply to situations; teams will occasionally change kickers mid-week, but any endorsements apply equally to whatever kicker winds up eventually getting the start.**

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