NFL Kickers to Start in Week 11: Fantasy Football Tiers & Rankings

Yes, that’s right – kickers. After all, points are points, and even though kickers are very difficult to predict for fantasy points week to week, having the right one in your Week 11 lineup could be a difference maker.

For those of you fantasy football owners out there who are streaming kickers, RotoBaller has got you covered with around-the-league analysis of the Week 11 NFL matchups.  This week shouldn't be as big an issue with bye weeks, unlike last week, meaning there should be plenty of viable waiver wire streamers and sleepers available.

We’re here to give you our analysis to help make your kicker streaming decisions and make your Week 11 lineup decisions a bit easier. Some of these kickers may have good Week 11 matchups, and be available on your league’s waiver wire. Be sure to stay on top of the weekly NFL matchups and kicker opponents right here. Good luck RotoBallers!

Teams that have bye weeks in Week 11: New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens

Week 11 Kickers: Tiers & Rankings

Tier 1 NFL Kickers: New England Patriots (Stephen Gostowski), Cincinnati Bengals (Mike Nugent), Pittsburgh Steelers (Shaun Suisham), New Orleans Saints (Shayne Graham), Minnesota Vikings (Blair Walsh), 

When we think if the kicking cream of the crop in the NFL, Stephen Gostowski's name should immediately be associated in your brain. Not only does he lead all legs in points scored thus far, but he also kicks for one of the most potent offenses around making him a must start each an every week.

Next is former Jets great Mike Nugent who draws a magnificent matchup versus the lowly Saints defense, allowing a hefty 9.63 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers. Keep Ohio's native son on the radar if you need a good Week 11 kicking matchup. Because the Steelers offense has been extremely potent of late, and because Shaun Suisham faces the lowly Titans defense in Week 11, we absolutely love the potential for this undervalued leg to go bonkers. Facing a team that allows 9.88 fantasy points per game to the opposition bodes very well for the seventh leading scorer amongst his peers.

Shayne "The Pain" Graham has been accurate, but has also been severely under-utilized thus far in 2014. In Week 11 he faces a weak Bengals defense that allows an average of 9.50 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers, so we love the chance to get him into the mix with confidence. Lastly, tier 1 rounds off with the NFL's 3rd best overall kicker as graded out by Pro Football Focus. Attention all RotoBallers, you should rapidly get to know Blair Walsh; the man that grades out second overall in field goal and extra point kicking ratings based on Pro Football Focus. We love this dude in Week 11 because he faces a Bears horror show that's allowing a league leading 11.13 points per game to opposing kickers.

Tier 2 NFL Kickers: Carolina Panthers (Graham Gano), San Diego Chargers (Nick Novak), Indianapolis Colts (Adam Vinatieri), Washington Redskins (Kai Forbath), Philadelphia Eagles (Cody Parkey), Seattle Seahawks (Steven Hauschka)

Graham Gano leads out tier 2 with his seventh overall ranking by Pro Football Focus, and because of his Week 11 matchup versus the underachieving Atlanta Falcons. The dirty birds allow an abundant 10.0 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers, so you should start any and all fantasy legs against them.

Nick "The Kick" Novak isn't quite living up to his nickname of late, but he faces the Raiders poop-show of a defense that allows 10.13 fantasy points per game to opposing place kickers. Week 11 should provide plenty of extra point and field goal chances for Mr. Novak, so prepare for blast off if you're lucky enough to own him. Former Patriots great Adam Vinatieri needs no nickname, he's just a clutch field goal making machine (as long as they are within 50 yards of course). Week 11 will be a nice matchup versus his former teammates who allow an average of 7.11 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers. The Redskins look serviceable at the moment and Kai Forbath gets to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who allow 10.25 fantasy points per game to the kickers they face. He makes a decent and sneaky start for Week 11.

Next up in tier 2 is our favorite northeast kicker, Cody "Action" Parkey. This rookie is lighting up NFL boards and grades out above average in all kicking stats. He also gets to face the Green Bay Packers in what will most likely be one of the highest projected scoring totals for Week 11. Lastly, Steven Hauschka is cleaning up our second tier with his Week 11 contest versus the Kansas City Chiefs who allow an average of 8.38 points per week to opposing place kickers. This former trombone player (pause) is widely owned and should be surely started in Week 11 for his favorable matchup.

Tier 3 NFL Kickers: San Francisco (Phil Dawson), Miami Dolphins (Caleb Sturgis), Buffalo Bills (Dan Carpenter), Denver Broncos (Brandon McManus), Green Bay Packers (Mason Crosby), Houston Texans (Randy Bullock)

Phil "Your Stat Sheet" Dawson grades out as the twelfth overall kicker and ranks 5th in the NFL in field goal and extra point scoring based on Pro Football Focus. This is a very stable matchup for him in Week 11 versus a Giants team allowing an average of 9.38 points per game to the opposing kicker. Caleb Sturgis is a top 5 NFL kicker based on scoring through Week 10 and draws division rival Buffalo for Week 11. Lucky for young Caleb that the only true NFL team from New York is allowing a hefty 9.5 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers.

Next up is ex-Dolphins great Dan Carpenter, who arrives as the sixth leading scorer amongst kickers heading into this Week 11 showdown with his former employer. Just run him out at your own risk because Miami only allows an average of 6.63 fantasy points per game to kickers and has a pretty stingy overall defense. Brandon "Not The" McManus is rated as the 30th best kicker to have taken an attempt thus far in the 2014 season, and that is just plain horrific for a team that thinks they are going to win a superbowl. With that being said, the Broncos face the St. Louis Rams who allow an average of 9.0 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers, so this could be a sneaky start for the otherwise incompetent replacement kicker. The world famous Mason "Betha" Crosby may be grouped into tier 3, but can easily be a tier 1-2 kicker in any given week depending on his opponent. In Week 11 he faces the Philadelphia Eagles who allow 7.25 fantasy points per game to opposing legs, but have no fear as this game will surely have very high projected scoring totals leading to plenty of scoring opportunities for Crosby.

Last but not least, Randy Bullock finishes off the last of the truly strong kicking options for Week 11 as he gets to face the Cleveland Browns. We're not in love here as the Browns only allow an average of 7.25 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers. Even though he's a top 13 kicker in scoring, Houston's finest is just barely above average in field goal and extra point grading skills based on Pro Football Focus, leaving a lot of doubt about his viability for Week 11.

 
 
Tier 4 NFL Kickers: Tennessee Titans (Ryan Succop), Arizona Cardinals (Chandler Catanzaro), Kansas City Chiefs (Cairo Santos), Cleveland Browns (Billy Cundiff), Atlanta Falcons (Matt Bryant)

"Saving Private Ryan" Succop is never on our fantasy football radar and he grades out as one of the worst kickers in the league. I'd honestly rather have my 6th grade Spanish teacher Señor Stern taking these kicks because they'd both probably yield similar results in scoring, while only one would leave us in stitches.

Chandler "Bing" Cantanzaro needs a better nickname, but until then he gets one of the toughest opponents of Week 11 in the Detroit Lions. The Motor City boys are only allowing an anemic 6.38 fantasy points per week to opposing kickers leaving us highly doubtful that the fifth best kicker in the league (based on Pro Football Focus) should be used at all in Week 11. Moving right along to the Kansas City Chiefs and our favorite Brazilian, Cairo Santos. The Seahawks are not nearly as dominant as the New Jersey Giants just made them look, as evidenced by the fact that they're allowing 8.0 fantasy points per game to opposing kickers. That being said, we'd recommend looking for a better option if at all possible (every week).

Billy "The Kid" Cundiff will be drawing a tough matchup versus the Houston Texans suffocating defense that only allows 7.0 points per week on average. We can't tell you to bench him unless you have a much better option, but we don't expect a 10+ point performance in Week 11. Matt Bryant rates out as third in the NFL in field goal and kicking grading, so we actually think he can return a bit of an investment for those who trust him in Week 11 versus the very mediocre Carolina Panthers. Besides their obvious deficiencies on offense, they also cough up an average of 7.67 fantasy points per week to opposing kickers, so consider this inconsistent performer a sneaky kicker waiver wire pickup for Week 11.

Tier 5 NFL Kickers: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Patrick Murray), New York Giants (Josh Brown), Detroit Lions (Matt Prater), Chicago Bears (Robbie Gould), St. Louis Rams (Greg Zuerlein), Oakland Raiders (Sebastian Janikowski)

Patty Murray is like the girl you're willing to hook up with on the weekend, but not ready to commit to dating full time. Like that girl, Murray's got decent potential, but there always seems to be a better option out there making it easy to pass on him when it's crunch time. There could be worse scenarios for Week 11 as Tampa Bay faces off against a Washington Redskins team that allows 7.89 fantasy points per contest to opposing legs.

Josh Brown has a forgettable name and is a mostly forgettable kicker on a severely underachieving New Jersey Giants team. To make matters worse for him, he draws the deadly San Francisco 49ers in Week 11, a team that only allows a stingy average of 6.13 fantasy points per game to opposing place kickers. Let's move right on to tier 5 staple Matt "The Exile" Prater. This former Broncos superstar decided to trade in the friendly kicking confines of Mile High Stadium for a 4 week unpaid vacation and immediate relocation to Detroit. Although he has the ability to hit the long ball, he's facing the Arizona Cardinals in Week 11 who only allow a meager average of 7.13 fantasy points per week to kickers.

Robbie Gould plays for the current laughing stock of the NFL (Chicago Bears) and faces a surprisingly tough Minnesota Vikings team that only allows a stingy 7.22 fantasy points per game to kickers in other uniforms. Our boy Greg "The Leg" Zuerlein is one of the league's worst kickers on paper, but has one of the best sports nicknames ever. Legatron comes into his Week 11 showdown with the Denver Broncos as a bottom five scorer, going up against a very stout defense that only allows 7.13 fantasy points per week to kickers. Amazing name (and article cover photo aside), we beg you to bench this soon to be unemployed place kicker.

And now we finally can get to the reason you all actually read this amazing Week 11 kicker matchups article; our weekly verbal defiling of The Polish Powederkeg, Napoleon Janikowski. before we get to the real fun, please note that he's only averaged about 6 fantasy points per contest over his last 3 games and faces the toughest defense in the league versus fantasy kickers, The San Diego Chargers. That makes him an absolute must-bench unless you play in a 30 team dynasty league.

Now with "Big Foot" clearly out of your fantasy football cross hairs for Week 11, let's reminisce about why we think the Raiders made him the richest kicker in NFL history for a third time in 2013. It's almost like they wanted to reinforce overpaying for him with their first round pick in the 2000 draft by doing it one more time for nostalgia's sake. What were they possibly thinking when they gave "Sea Bass" 19 million dollars over 5 years (including 8 million dollars guaranteed) without batting an eye, or thinking of possibly improving other parts of their putrid football franchise with that money? Even without an advanced degree in algebra it's easy to extrapolate just how many cheeseburgers and kilos of GHB the Polish Cannon will be consuming for all of eternity thanks to the best run franchise in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders. On that note, we'll leave you with the option to read up one of Sebi's most infamous moments in the hopes that he somehow breaks the law again enabling us to further be entertained by his notorious antics.

Good luck choosing your kickers in Week 11 RotoBaller's! Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @RealTalkRaph if you want to discuss these life changing choices any further.