NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 3: Kickers

I’m not sure if you caught the game, but Butker kicked three field goals of 50+ yards on the final play of the game (one penalty, one freeze and the eventual winner). You might not know this, but I’m a Chicago Bears fan. And I might be more jealous of the Chiefs kicking situation than I am of not drafting Patrick Mahomes. You just don’t understand what a luxury that is.

Respect the specs. He’s been our dude the entire season and hasn’t let us down once. In fact, he nailed all six kicks on Sunday, including four field goals. Where it could get dicey this week is the Colts are playing the Jets. Maybe they score four touchdowns, and Rodrigo has just four points. However, that’s always dicey. Kicks are volatile, so just focus on teams that you expect to score a lot of points. I’m not messing with what works now.

You probably already know I’m not huge on fantasy kickers (I do this for you). But there needs to be a way to give fantasy points for successful onsides kicks (I know it was Greg the Leg this week, but Koo is the G.O.A.T at this). I’ll work with our product team to make that happen. Koo had 15 points against the Dallas Cowboys and this week has the Bears, who have allowed an average of nine points per game to opposing kickers this week.

Boswell hasn’t had much action this season, settling for just 14 fantasy points combined this season. But he hasn’t been awful, which is nice. And the offense should be able to move the ball this week against Houston. The Texans have allowed an average of 12.50 fantasy points to kickers this season.

The Texans offense hasn’t been great this season. Just looking at the Texans from afar, it seems like they could use a stud No. 1 receiver to really compliment them. But it’s hard to find those kind of players. And when you do, you have to hold on to them. That said, the Steelers have been rough on opposing kickers the first two weeks. And while the Texans are too good (or more like Deshaun Watson is) to be held in check for the entire season, I’d look for some other options this week.

McManus hasn’t reached double-digits for the entire season, although he did have a respectable seven points last week. The problem is the Broncos offense has been beset by injuries to quarterback Drew Lock and receiver Courtland Sutton, who is out of the season. Meaning it’s going to be tough for Denver to move the football.

Scored seven points last week but missed a 57-yarder at the end of the first half that could have cost them the game. The Giants offense will look a lot different this week without Saquon Barkley and they have a tough matchup against the 49ers which means scoring opportunities could be at a minimum this week.

Slye missed a PAT during Week 1, but rallied to make all three of his kicks against the Buccaneers. Like previously mentioned above, this is going to be a tough matchup for the Panthers because not only do the Chargers have a strong defense. Christian McCaffrey is going to be out four to six weeks with a high-ankle sprain.