Knowing which kickers to start in fantasy football can be critical to winning your matchups. This position, arguably more so than any other, is matchup dependent on a weekly basis, and the best results can be obtained by being flexible with a streaming strategy. Here’s a look at our Week 1 fantasy kicker rankings and the top options to stream this week.
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Top Kicker Streamers for Week 1
Here are my top fantasy kicker streamers, all of whom are rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues.
Cameron Dicker, Los Angeles Chargers (vs. MIA)
It amazes me that Cameron Dicker isn’t considered a top-12 kicker entering the 2023 fantasy football season. I get it. Kickers don’t matter. Who cares? I know. But in league with kickers (and some of my leagues still have kickers), we still want the best players.
Dicker made 95% of his kicks last season. The Chargers have a great matchup against the Dolphins this week. That game will be played in excellent weather, and projects to be one of the highest scoring games of the week. That means plenty of scoring opportunities.
The Chargers are an elite offense, playing at home, favored, in good weather, and in a likely shootout. Dicker is also legitimately a good kicker. He checks every conceivable box. Stream him this week, and then keep him because he deserves to be rostered.
Brandon McManus, Jacksonville Jaguars (at IND)
In what will be a theme this season (and every season), we have another kicker in a favorable situation. Brandon McManus ends his nine-year tenure with the Broncos and now will serve as the Jaguars’ kicker.
In the past, McManus has been a quality fantasy kicker. When the Broncos had a good offense, he benefited. Back in 2014, as a rookie, McManus hit 41 extra points during the last year of Peyton Manning being good at football.
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McManus has a career field goal percentage over 80% and a booming leg, capable of hitting from 60+.
This week, the Jaguars are road favorites against a Colts team starting a rookie quarterback. They will be playing indoors. McManus checks all the boxes. He’s a great kicker streaming option for Week 1.
Wil Lutz, Denver Broncos (vs. LV)
This one is more for those in deeper leagues. The Broncos have a great matchup at home against a weak Raiders defense. In theory, they should be able to move the ball well.
While the Broncos offense projects to be better than last year, it wouldn’t be shocking to see them stall on drives a bunch this week. That could lead to Wil Lutz having 4-5 field goal attempts.
Lutz struggled a bit last year, after missing all of 2021. He hit a career-low 74% of his field goals attempts. Even so, he still has an 84.6% career field goal percentage.
Furthermore, projected attempts are the most important factor in streaming kickers. If you told me the worst kicker in the league was going to attempt four field goals, but Justin Tucker was only going to attempt two, I would take the worst kicker in the league every time. Lutz is far from the worst kicker in the league. He’s serviceable, and this matchup could be one where he performs above expectation.
Week 1 Kicker Rankings for Fantasy Football
The rankings below are our PFN Consensus Rankings. They are compiled as an average between myself, Fantasy Football Director Kyle Yates, and my fellow Fantasy Football Analysts Derek Tate and Kyle Soppe.
If you want to ask any of our fantasy analysts about kicker rankings or streamers for Week 1, be sure to sign up for the PFN Discord server, where you will have unlimited access to the team throughout the season.
