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We're officially in our annual 2022 Fantasy Football Draft Prep part of the season. Fantasy managers everywhere are tracking training camp news and adjusting their rankings to help them dominate their upcoming fantasy football drafts. While there's no doubt the vast majority of your time will be spent focused on the four primary positions – quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends – we're here to help you on a lesser position that generally gets forgotten about - Kickers.
There's no denying that you should be focused on the four primary positions. They score the most points and they will impact whether your fantasy football season is a success a helluva lot more than any kicker and defense can, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't put any time into figuring out who are some kickers and defenses we should be targeting in this year's draft.
Deciding on who your fantasy football kicker should be isn't a terribly difficult task. Fantasy managers want kickers on high-scoring offenses with high win totals. These things regularly led to high and consistent fantasy scoring for their kickers. Another thing to take note of is where their team plays. While playing outdoors in Buffalo isn't enough to move Tyler Bass off the top spot, for guys like Greg Joseph and Rodrigo Blankenship, who get to play their home games in domes, it's certainly a positive.
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Fantasy Football Draft Rankings - Kicker
Below, you'll find a tier-based ranking system for all 32 kickers this season. You'll also find their team's projected win total and their projected point total. Their projected win total is based on Vegas odds and the projected point total is based on ESPN's Mike Clay's Annual Projections.
| Kicker Tier |
Kicker Ranking |
Kicker Name |
Team's Projected Wins Total |
Team's Projected Point Total |
| 1 | 1 | Tyler Bass | 11.5 | 463 (27.23 PPG) |
| 1 | 2 | Harrison Butker | 10.5 | 478 (28.11 PPG) |
| 1 | 3 | Evan McPherson | 9.5 | 450 (26.47 PPG) |
| 1 | 4 | Justin Tucker | 9.5 | 420 (24.70 PPG) |
| 2 | 5 | Ryan Succop | 11.5 | 464 (27.29 PPG) |
| 2 | 6 | Matt Gay | 10.5 | 444 (26.11 PPG) |
| 2 | 7 | Daniel Carlson | 8.5 | 415 (24.41 PPG) |
| 2 | 8 | Nick Folk | 8.5 | 418 (24.58 PPG) |
| 2 | 9 | Duston Hopkins | 10.4 | 467 (27.47 PPG) |
| 3 | 10 | Greg Joseph | 9.5 | 426 (25.05 PPG) |
| 3 | 11 | Matt Prater | 8.5 | 431 (23.35 PPG) |
| 3 | 12 | Brandon McManus | 10.5 | 431 (23.35 PPG) |
| 3 | 13 | Rodrigo Blankenship | 9.5 | 396 (23.29 PPG) |
| 3 | 14 | Robbie Gould | 9.5 | 402 (23.64 PPG) |
| 4 | 15 | Brett Maher | 10.5 | 450 (26.47 PPG) |
| 4 | 16 | Jake Elliott | 9.5 | 423 (24.88 PPG) |
| 4 | 17 | Mason Crosby | 10.5 | 443 (26.05 PPG) |
| 4 | 18 | Jason Sanders | 8.5 | 381 (22.41 PPG) |
| 4 | 19 | Will Lutz | 8.5 | 379 (22.29 PPG) |
| 4 | 20 | Joey Slye | 7.5 | 401 (23.58 PPG) |
| 5 | 21 | Cade York | ––– | 395 (23.23 PPG) |
| 5 | 22 | Austin Seibert | 6.5 | 374 (22 PPG) |
| 5 | 23 | Reggie Bullock | 9.5 | 388 (22.82 PPG) |
| 5 | 24 | Zane Gonzalez | 6.5 | 333 (19.58 PPG) |
| 5 | 25 | James McCourt | 6.5 | 366 (21.52 PPG) |
| 5 | 26 | Younghoe Koo | 4.5 | 308 (18.11 PPG) |
| 6 | 27 | Greg Zuerlein | 5.5 | 353 (20.76 PPG) |
| 6 | 28 | Chris Boswell | 7.5 | 329 (19.35 PPG) |
| 6 | 29 | Graham Gano | 7.5 | 351 (20.64 PPG) |
| 6 | 30 | Cairo Santos | 6.5 | 332 (19.52 PPG) |
| 6 | 31 | Kai'mi Fairbairn | 4.5 | 317 (18.64 PPG) |
| 6 | 32 | Jason Myers | 5.5 | 324 (19.05 PPG) |
Tier 1 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
No surprises here. These guys are the cream of the crop. They were some of the best fantasy football kickers last year and they're all on teams that are universally believed to have some of the best and most explosive offenses in the NFL. Any one of these four kickers has a great chance to finish as the best in the league at the season's end.
You shouldn't sleep on Justin Tucker, however. He had a down season in 2021 on his standards, but a lot of things went wrong for the Baltimore offense. Lamar Jackson is healthy and looking better than ever in training camp thus far. Don't be surprised if he ends up back at the top of the class.
Tier 2 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
These five kickers will also be incredibly efficient in 2022. The one nice thing about all of these guys except Nick Folk is they kick in fantasy-friendly environments. You're not going to have any snow games in Tampa Bay or Los Angeles or Las Vegas. This is wildly different than our Tier 1 where all four kickers may have to deal with some nasty weather games. It's certainly something to pay attention to.
Ryan Succop could finish higher than this ranking and he's one of my favorite targets this year. The Buccaneers finished their drives at a very high rate last season and the losses of Antonio Brown, Rob Gronkowski, and possibly Chris Godwin early on could lead to more field goal attempts. We should be expecting some regression in this regard either way.
The addition of Davante Adams in Las Vegas could help raise Derek Carr's incredibly low touchdown rate from last year, which could lead to fewer field goal attempts for Daniel Carlson, but he's still an excellent target this season.
Tier 3 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
If you look to add a defense before your kicker in the final two rounds, this tier of kickers offers plenty of viable starting options. Greg Joseph was one of the better kickers in fantasy football last season and he could be even better in 2022.
The Vikings' offense received a coaching upgrade as they're shifting away from the old-fashioned and slow ground-focused game of Mike Zimmer and moving to a more up-tempo, pass-centric system with Kevin O'Connell. This could very well lead to more scoring opportunities for the entire offense. They also play in a dome year-round, which is an added bonus.
Two other excellent targets in this range are Matt Prater and Rodrigo Blankenship. The Cardinals' offense is stacked with players like Kyler Murray, James Conner, DeAndre Hopkins, Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore, and Zach Ertz. They play in a warm city with no concerns about snow. Blankenship and the Colts got a major quarterback upgrade with Matt Ryan and should be a better offense all-around in 2022. They also play in a dome, which helps his season-long projection.
Tier 4 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
There are two kickers in this tier who seem out of place – Mason Crosby and Brett Maher. Maher was recently signed by the Cowboys and now seems guaranteed to be their Week 1 kicker. Both of these kickers are on teams with a projected win total of 10.5 and projected point totals of over 440+, which solidly trumps everyone else in this tier.
Over the past two seasons, the Packers have been incredibly efficient inside the red zone, which has limited Crosby's attempts. He's also coming off one of the worst seasons of his career. With the loss of Davante Adams, it's possible they struggle more in the scoring zone this season, which could help prop up his scoring. He's someone to keep an eye on throughout the season.
Maher is another one to watch. For starters, the Cowboys are one of the most up-tempo and high-scoring offenses in the league, plus they play in a dome. Everything says we should be targeting him, but he's a rookie and he hasn't won the job yet.
We've also seen some rookies struggle to kick in the big leagues, so while he's someone to watch, there are so many good kickers out there that it's not necessary to rule with him as your sole and primary kicker post-draft day.
Tier 5 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
This is our potential tier. If Deshaun Watson doesn't receive as long as a suspension as is expected, rookie Cade York could be an interesting player to watch as the season goes along. He'll certainly be on the streaming radar.
Others who could be on the streaming radar are Austin Seibert of the Lions, Randy Bullock of the Titans, Zane Gonzalez of the Panthers, and James McCourt of the Jaguars. The Lions are entering Year Two of Dan Campbell's system, have an elite offensive line, and added playmakers in D.J. Chark and Jameson Williams. Amon-Ra St. Brown enters his second season and D'Andre Swift and T.J. Hockenson are healthy. It's an underrated offense.
The Panthers got a quarterback upgrade with Baker Mayfield. He struggled in 2021, but he played with an absolutely messed-up shoulder. In 2020, he threw 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. If they get that Mayfield, the Panthers offense with a healthy Christian McCaffrey and D.J. Moore could actually be fun to watch.
We should all be expecting the Jaguars to be much improved this year. Trevor Lawrence is in Year Two. They received a significant upgrade in a head coach with the Super Bowl-winning Doug Pederson. They upgraded their offensive line and their group of pass-catchers. All of these guys could be on the streaming radar.
Tier 6 - Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings
This is our avoid at all costs tier. There's very little potential here. There's very little upside.
The two New York kickers are semi-interesting and possibly could provide streaming potential throughout the year depending on the development of Zach Wilson and Daniel Jones at quarterback, but that potential isn't enough to keep Greg Zuerlein or Graham Gano out of the bottom tier.
Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, and Chicago look like some of the worst offenses this season with questionable quarterback play so those kickers, despite being veterans, can be ignored.
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