When do I draft kickers in fantasy football?

There are still plenty of fantasy football leagues that play with kickers. It’s more common than it has been in past years to eliminate the kicker position completely, but the position is still alive and well.

While it can be easy to write off the position as a whole, kickers can have an impact on your fantasy football squad. We’ve all been on the wrong side of a tight head-to-head matchup that comes down to one player. Often in those situations, a better performance out of your kicker could have been the difference. There’s a lot of variance when it comes to finding a solid fantasy football kicker. It takes a lot of patience to hang onto a kicker who seems inconsistent, and there is no right or wrong time to cut ties. 

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Last season, fantasy football’s top kicker was Jason Sanders of the Miami Dolphins. Using FantasyData’s ADP tool from 2020, Sanders was going undrafted as the 24th kicker. He didn’t get off to the hottest start, but Sanders made himself a priority pickup following his performances in Week 4-5. In each of these weeks, he went a perfect 5-for-5. In Weeks 6-17 (11 games), Sanders made at least two field goals in all but three games. This consistency pushed him to the top of all kickers in terms of fantasy football points. So where did this season in which he went 36-for-39 (92.3%) place him in comparison to other positions? Here are some results from 2020 using 0.5 PPR scoring:

No, this is not to hint at drafting a kicker earlier than you should. It’s just to put into perspective where a kicker can finish by season-end, given you have the right one. As it was mentioned above, Sanders was a guy who wasn’t being considered as a top kicker heading into the season leaving him undrafted in a majority of leagues. Of course, fantasy points awarded to kickers vary from league to league (the table above is from the standard FTN Fantasy “player stats” page).

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Where should you draft a kicker?

Most places you go will tell you to always draft a kicker in the last round of your fantasy football drafts. Ideally, that is the correct answer, if you plan on drafting one. Yes, you read that right, if you plan on drafting one. Believe it or not, you don’t have to select a kicker during your fantasy football draft at all (on most host sites; there are some that will force you to draft one). This strategy allows you to fill out the rest of your bench by drafting a high-upside position player. If you do go ahead and use this draft style, just make sure to go back and add a kicker prior to Week 1 (or before your waivers lock). This gives you time to evaluate your roster as a whole and see which player you’re able to cut loose before you need to add a kicker. If, for whatever reason, you’re in a league in which you need to fill out your entire roster on draft day, then use your last pick to select a kicker. As we went over with the Jason Sanders scenario, this was a guy who did not get drafted. There are going to be productive kickers on the waiver wire that you’re able to pick up. Pay close attention to how kickers are doing through the first two weeks of the season, and you might just find a hidden gem. 

Check out the FTN Fantasy Football kicker rankings.