There’s still one modest-sized domino left to fall, but I think we can now call the kicker rankings pretty much final. The vast majority of teams have settled on their guys.
The Falcons worked out 44-year-old Matt Bryant and believe he’s got another season left him in. With Atlanta having one of the league’s best offenses, Bryant is in play for top-10 numbers at the position. Giorgio Tavecchio and Blair Walsh go bye-bye. Tavecchio really blew this opportunity. They wanted him to win the job, and he went on to miss field goals in all five of their preseason games (they had the bonus game in Canton).
Carolina placed Graham Gano on injured reserve, and they did so before the cutdown to 53 players, so he’s out of the year. It will instead go with youngster Joey Slye.
Minnesota traded for Kaare Vedvik, and he prompted started missing kicks. So they’ll stick with veteran Dan Bailey.
Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati all looked at youngsters, but they all opted to stick with their veterans – Mason Crosby, Chris Boswell and Randy Bullock remain in place.
There are some teams that could still make moves at kicker, with the Jets leading the way. Taylor Bertolet is their kicker for now, but he’ll almost certainly be released before the start of the season. They’ve been in touch with Cody Parkey.
The Bucs are keeping two kickers for now. Rookie Matt Gay played well enough in the preseason that he’s pretty certain to be their guy. But Cairo Santos is a reliable veteran. They are hanging onto him (I believe) with the hopes of trading him to a team such as the Jets.
But the board for kickers looks pretty solid. If I were walking into a draft tonight, I would go with this …
| FANTASY INDEX KICKER RATINGS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Tm | Bye | Player | G | PPG | Total |
| 1. | BAL | 8 | Justin Tucker | 16.0 | 8.85 | 141.6 |
| 2. | LAR | 9 | Greg Zuerlein | 15.0 | 9.20 | 138.0 |
| 3. | NO | 9 | Wil Lutz | 16.0 | 8.43 | 134.9 |
| 4. | NE | 10 | Stephen Gostkowski | 16.0 | 8.40 | 134.4 |
| 5. | HOU | 10 | Ka'imi Fairbairn | 16.0 | 8.20 | 131.2 |
| 6. | KC | 12 | Harrison Butker | 16.0 | 8.18 | 130.9 |
| 7. | SF | 4 | Robbie Gould | 16.0 | 8.15 | 130.4 |
| 8. | PHI | 10 | Jake Elliott | 16.0 | 7.70 | 123.2 |
| 9. | ATL | 9 | Matt Bryant | 15.4 | 7.75 | 119.4 |
| 10. | SEA | 11 | Jason Myers | 16.0 | 7.40 | 118.4 |
| 11. | PIT | 7 | Chris Boswell | 16.0 | 7.38 | 118.1 |
| 12. | DAL | 8 | Brett Maher | 16.0 | 7.37 | 117.9 |
| 13. | JAC | 10 | Josh Lambo | 16.0 | 7.30 | 116.8 |
| 14. | LAC | 12 | Michael Badgley | 16.0 | 7.28 | 116.5 |
| 15. | DET | 5 | Matt Prater | 16.0 | 7.25 | 116.0 |
| 16. | IND | 6 | Adam Vinatieri | 16.0 | 7.15 | 114.4 |
| 17. | NYG | 11 | Aldrick Rosas | 16.0 | 7.05 | 112.8 |
| 18. | BUF | 6 | Stephen Hauschka | 16.0 | 6.95 | 111.2 |
| 19. | MIN | 12 | Dan Bailey | 15.0 | 7.40 | 111.0 |
| 20. | DEN | 10 | Brandon McManus | 16.0 | 6.90 | 110.4 |
| 21. | CHI | 6 | Eddy Pineiro | 15.0 | 7.35 | 110.3 |
| 22. | GB | 11 | Mason Crosby | 15.0 | 7.30 | 109.5 |
| 23. | TEN | 11 | Ryan Succop | 16.0 | 6.80 | 108.8 |
| 24. | CAR | 7 | Joey Slye | 15.0 | 7.10 | 106.5 |
| 25. | CLE | 7 | Austin Seibert | 15.0 | 7.00 | 105.0 |
| 26. | OAK | 6 | Daniel Carlson | 16.0 | 6.55 | 104.8 |
| 27. | ARI | 12 | Zane Gonzalez | 15.0 | 6.55 | 98.3 |
| 28. | CIN | 9 | Randy Bullock | 15.4 | 6.25 | 96.3 |
| 29. | TB | 7 | Matt Gay | 15.0 | 6.35 | 95.3 |
| 30. | WAS | 10 | Dustin Hopkins | 15.2 | 6.20 | 94.2 |
| 31. | MIA | 5 | Jason Sanders | 16.0 | 5.65 | 90.4 |
| 32. | TB | 7 | Cairo Santos | 9.0 | 6.65 | 59.9 |
| 33. | NYJ | 4 | Taylor Bertolet | 4.0 | 6.80 | 27.2 |
| 34. | UFA | -- | Cody Parkey | 3.0 | 6.80 | 20.4 |
| 35. | UFA | -- | Matthew Wright | .3 | 7.00 | 2.1 |
| 36. | UFA | -- | Cole Hedlund | .2 | 6.95 | 1.4 |
| 37. | UFA | -- | Giorgio Tavecchio | .2 | 6.90 | 1.4 |
| 38. | UFA | -- | Kaare Vedvik | .2 | 6.90 | 1.4 |
| 39. | UFA | -- | Sam Ficken | .2 | 6.90 | 1.4 |
| 40. | UFA | -- | Greg Joseph | .2 | 6.90 | 1.4 |
—Ian Allan