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 5 Kicker Results

Every week, we highlight the Top 5 recommendations from our model who are available on waivers in at least 50% of fantasy leagues (per NFL.com roster data). Here's how last week's top options fared.

Matt Prater (2 FGs on 2 attempts, 2 XPs, 8 points)

Prater nearly had the benefit of overtime this week (a magical period where kickers can expand their daily total by as many as six points), but his team allowed a last-minute game-winning drive. Prater still finished with 8 points, which ranked 9th last week.

Chad Ryland (0 FGs on 0 attempts, 3 XPs, 3 points)

Everything was going as planned for Arizona, which took a 21-3 lead into halftime, until one of the most bizarre halves of football derailed their afternoon. Ryland lost an extra point opportunity as Emari Demarcado dropped the football before crossing the goal line on a long would-be touchdown run. He lost a field goal opportunity after an early snap on 3rd-and-long in field goal range hit Kyler Murray in the face and resulted in a fumble. (Arizona's defense was not immune to the apparent voodoo curse; the only touchdown they surrendered came on a Tennessee pass that was intercepted, fumbled backwards, and recovered in the end zone.) A day that began with promise ended with disappointment as Ryland tied for 25th among kickers in fantasy.

Joshua Karty (1 FG on 2 Attempts, 2 XPs, 5 points)

Another afternoon where the potential was there, but the results failed to live up to it. Karty's woes with blocked kicks continued as the 49ers got a hand on one of his extra point attempts. Karty missed from 52, and the Rams eschewed a game-tying chip-shot field goal on 4th down in overtime to go for the touchdown and the win. Karty finished with 5 points, which tied for 17th on the week.

Jason Myers (0 FGs on 1 attempt, 5 XPs, 5 points)

The Seahawks offense was potent, but Myers missed from 44 yards, a costly mistake in a game Seattle lost by 3. All of his other attempts were extra points, and even with five of them, it was only good for a 17th-place fantasy finish.

Ryan Fitzgerald (2 FGs on 2 attempts, 3 XPs, 9 points)

Early on, it looked like the day was not going to go Fitzgerald's way; the Dolphins staked an early 17-0 lead, and blowout losses often lead teams to keep the offense on the field on 4th down rather than sending in the kicker. Carolina rallied, though, scoring ten before halftime to keep the margin close, then hanging in for the eventual victory. Fitzgerald's nine points tied for 7th on the week.

Kicker Results To Date

To date, Rent-a-Kicker has made 25 weekly recommendations. Those 25 kickers have averaged 7.68 points. Our top three weekly picks average 7.93 points-- compared to a long-run average of 7.67. That would currently rank 12th at the position, and would have ranked 9th at the end of last season.

Meanwhile, here are the Top 12 kickers by preseason ADP, along with how many points they have scored so far this season. For any week a kicker didn't play (whether due to injury or bye), I will add six points to account for replacement-level performance.

• Brandon Aubrey (45)
• Cameron Dicker (36)
• Jake Bates (40)
• Chris Boswell (34)
• Chase McLaughlin (47)
• Ka'imi Fairbairn (42)
• Harrison Butker (41)
• Jake Elliott (29)
• Cam Little (43)
• Tyler Bass (30)
• Wil Lutz (31)
• Younghoe Koo (26)

The average of our top three freely available kickers each week would score 39.7 points to this point, while the average of the top 12 kickers by preseason ADP would score 37.0, giving us an advantage of about a half point per game.

Week 6 Kicker 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. The top three players will be included in our running average. 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.**