Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings 2021: Best kickers to draft, sleepers to know

Congratulations — you’ve officially made it to the end of your 2021 fantasy football research (and if kicker rankings aren’t your last stop, then shame on you). Even though kickers are an afterthought in fantasy leagues (the ones that still have them, that is), you still want to get a good one. Of course, finding said “good one” isn’t easy, but that won’t stop fantasy owners from thinking they’ve discovered a magic formula.

Accuracy + leg strength + (dome + warm-weather games/late-season cold-weather games) + offenses that routinely stall out around the 30-yard line = perfect fantasy kicker.

Got it? It’s that easy.

The best part of that equation is that fantasy owners think they can predict which offenses will settle more for field goals than score touchdowns. You can’t predict that on a week-to-week basis, never mind before the season, so don’t try. Instead, just focus on good offenses. Teams that move the ball will have more scoring chances. Case in point: Last year, Tyler Bass had a league-leading 59 PAT chances, but he also had 39 FG attempts, tied for seventh most. It’s not necessarily one or the other. Good offenses can provide both.

Playing indoors is nice, but that might not matter for more than a couple games a year, so don’t place too much emphasis on that before the season. Accuracy and a strong leg are much more important. Even then, results can fluctuate from year to year. Joey Slye is a good example of that. In his rookie season in 2019, Slye was eight-for-11 on 50-plus-yard FG attempts; last year, he was one-for-six. Overall, he was more accurate and got four more attempts, but for fantasy purposes, it looked like he got worse. He could easily bounce back with a big year from bonus-point territory.

The most important thing to remember with kickers is not to draft one until the final round. Sure, Justin Tucker is one of the all-time greats, but he was just the No. 7 fantasy kicker last season. Jason Sanders, who wasn’t on anyone’s radar going into last season, wound up finishing first. The difference between the top kicker and the No. 12 kicker is notable (37 points last year), but the difference between No. 7 and No. 14 was merely 12 points. So, whoever “reached” for Tucker last year got less than one fantasy point more per week than the owners of Graham Gano — which was precisely zero people on draft day. 

Even more relevant is that you should be dropping your kicker during his bye week. Why invest a pick higher than the last round in a player you know won’t last close to the entire season?

Ultimately, kickers do make a difference, but you shouldn’t get hung up on them ahead of your draft. There are plenty of other positions and players that are far more important. Focus on them and take whoever is left at kicker in the last round. If he stinks, then pick up someone else. That strategy is actually easy.

We’ll be adjusting these rankings and providing further analysis from now until Week 1. Check back for updates!

2021 Fantasy Kicker Rankings

Rankings are based on standard, non-PPR scoring formats