Taking an early look at the kickers, I notice there is no awesome, can’t-miss matchup for Week 16. There is no situation where a top-10 kicker is working against a defense ranking in the bottom-10 against the position.
This isn’t normally the case. If you look at the bottom of the averages below, for example, you’ll see five situations where a bottom-10 kicker is working against a defense that ranks among the 10 best against the position.
On the chart below, you see the 32 offenses and the 32 defenses, blended against each other. If an offense ranks in the top 10, it’s in bold. If a defense ranks in the bottom 10 (that is, favorable against offenses) it’s in bold. Ideally, you’re looking for bold against bold, and there are none of those.
The raw numbers have Josh Lambo tying for the top spot, but he’s not a kicker anybody would want. The Jaguars have really tailed off recently, while their kicker-leaky opponent (Atlanta) is playing better nowadays.
If you were trying to work the waiver wire for a kicker, probably the three options to consider would be Cincinnati (3rd), Indianapolis (12th) or Miami (14th).
KICKER AVERAGES, WEEK 16 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Offense | Defense | Off | Def | Avg |
Jacksonville | Atlanta | 7.14 | 8.36 | 7.75 |
San Francisco | LA Rams | 8.64 | 6.86 | 7.75 |
Cincinnati | Miami | 6.36 | 9.07 | 7.71 |
Seattle | Arizona | 7.07 | 8.29 | 7.68 |
Baltimore | Cleveland | 8.57 | 6.79 | 7.68 |
Detroit | Denver | 7.14 | 8.14 | 7.64 |
New Orleans | Tennessee | 9.23 | 5.93 | 7.52 |
Pittsburgh | NY Jets | 7.64 | 7.36 | 7.50 |
Houston | Tampa Bay | 6.21 | 8.71 | 7.46 |
Kansas City | Chicago | 9.43 | 5.36 | 7.39 |
Tampa Bay | Houston | 8.14 | 6.57 | 7.36 |
Indianapolis | Carolina | 6.31 | 8.29 | 7.33 |
Arizona | Seattle | 8.00 | 6.64 | 7.32 |
Miami | Cincinnati | 5.79 | 8.64 | 7.21 |
Minnesota | Green Bay | 7.43 | 6.93 | 7.18 |
LA Chargers | Oakland | 7.50 | 6.86 | 7.18 |
Carolina | Indianapolis | 6.86 | 7.46 | 7.15 |
Dallas | Philadelphia | 7.86 | 6.43 | 7.14 |
Denver | Detroit | 6.64 | 7.50 | 7.07 |
Atlanta | Jacksonville | 7.36 | 6.79 | 7.07 |
Cleveland | Baltimore | 6.93 | 6.79 | 6.86 |
Washington | NY Giants | 5.79 | 7.86 | 6.82 |
Philadelphia | Dallas | 6.14 | 6.57 | 6.36 |
Green Bay | Minnesota | 6.14 | 6.50 | 6.32 |
LA Rams | San Francisco | 7.14 | 5.00 | 6.07 |
Oakland | LA Chargers | 5.43 | 6.29 | 5.86 |
Tennessee | New Orleans | 4.64 | 6.92 | 5.74 |
NY Giants | Washington | 4.36 | 7.07 | 5.71 |
Chicago | Kansas City | 5.71 | 5.71 | 5.71 |
New England | Buffalo | 7.43 | 3.71 | 5.57 |
Buffalo | New England | 6.07 | 4.36 | 5.21 |
NY Jets | Pittsburgh | 4.50 | 5.79 | 5.14 |
—Ian Allan