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Week 16 is upon us, and if you are here, that means you are most likely in the semifinals of your fantasy football playoffs. Kickers matter. I'm going to tell you why, and I'm going to give you my top 12 rankings for week 16. Let's get into it right now.
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What's going on, everybody? My name is Michael Hopk, and feel free to follow me at the FF Realist. This is the FF Baseoff, and yes, today I'm giving you my kicker rankings for week 16 of the fantasy football season, really the fantasy football playoffs. So, I'm going to give you those in just a second. Um, I'll tell you guys some of the tiers, what I have going on, why I have certain guys ranked where they are. Always feel free to like and subscribe. Helps me out immensely. Just leave a comment if you have any questions, too. I take great pride in answering all of them. Fire it into the comments. But yeah, just a simple like helps us out so much. Reaches other people. Hopefully not your opponents in the playoffs. But I digress.
Let's get into this, though. I do just want to say, if you guys have watched my streamer videos all year, and this is just going to be a straight-up rankings, but if you watch my streamer videos, I always like to tell you guys why do kickers matter. And if you go ahead and take a look at Jason Myers, for example, the number one ranked kicker in fantasy football as of right now with 171 points scored. That's as per fantasydata.com in half-point format. So that is more points than CD Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Jameson Williams, and AJ Brown. Now, you may laugh at that and say, well, you know, yeah, obviously he's got more points than Justin Jefferson. I mean, look at Justin Jefferson's year. The point I'm trying to make here is the draft capital you spend on some of these players. And I'm not telling you, no, I'm not telling you that means Jason Myers needs to be drafted in the first round. I'm just trying to say to you, kickers are pretty important there. There's something to definitely monitor, and I will be helping you out throughout the offseason, getting that straight away for your drafts in the summer. But we're in the here and now. We win, we do need to win a playoff game.
I will just say I love the kicking options this week. Um, there's a little bit of weather going on here, but not much. But I, and also I do want to keep in mind, I think a lot of these kickers in my top 12, at least seven of them, seven or eight, or maybe more, could get 10 points, nine to 10 points. So I think this is a good week for kickers if you pick the right one. Um, there have been 10 weeks this season where at least 10 teams have allowed double-digit points to kickers. So that's 10, 10. So yeah, 10 weeks in which a defense has allowed 10 points to kickers on a per week basis. So, um, so yeah, so we'll take that over obviously. I just want to kind of inform you guys. I wanted to bring that up because I feel good about this week. So it's just if I have a kicker who is not ranked where you want him to be, like, don't think that ranked seventh or ranked eighth is a bad ranking. It's not. It's actually, I'm excited about pretty much all of these kickers. Um, what might surprise some of you guys as we now get into the rankings here. Again, feel free to hit the like and subscribe button. Leave a comment. It'll help you out.
My number one ranked kicker this week might surprise some people because it's not Jason Myers. It's going to be Cameron Dicker. The kicker. Yes, he is not an attorney, but he's going to be playing at the Cowboys this week. So that sounds like a pretty good idea to me. The game will be indoors, of course, so we love to see that. The Chargers offense has had their issues, but that really hasn't stopped Dicker, the kicker. Um, sorry, I'm getting a little too trigger-happy with those graphics. Dicker has had 10 or more points in five of the last seven weeks, and he's also third in the league in fantasy points scored. Um, you know, so again, he's going to be indoors against a Cowboys team that has allowed 28 points over the last two weeks. So, for me, if you have Cameron Dicker, the kicker, fire him up. Put him out there. Um, he's one of the unsung heroes in fantasy football. He's gotten his shout-outs here and there, but yeah.
Now, I know some of you people were panicking because you probably said, "Hey, you said Jason Myers is 171 points in the year. Where the hell is Jason Myers?" Don't worry. Don't fret. Don't panic. He is number two on our list. Um, it is Jason Myers, the number one kicker in fantasy football, obviously put on a clinic last week against the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, Thursday night football against the Rams going to be home in Seattle. Literally the only issue here is the weather. There's supposed to be a lot of rain in the forecast. Surprise, surprise, Seattle earlier in the day. Uh, while the rain may taper off in the evening, there may be some wind gusts there. So, I'm just trying to temper expectations. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying here. Listen, if you have Myers, don't think that like, oh, I have to pivot. Oh, should I drop him? Should I do no? Myers brought you to the dance. I said, "Set it and forget it." He's still a tier one guy. I've got four kickers in my tier one this week. So, yeah, Jason Myers. Absolutely fire him out there. Uh, as your number two ranked kicker.
My number three ranked kicker will be going against Cameron Dicker, the kicker, and that's going to be Mr. Brandon Aubrey. Again, with the graphics, what am I doing? I must be too excited. Brandon Aubrey is going up against the Chargers. This is a Sunday game, and really this has more to do with what Aubrey's been able to do. If you look at the last three weeks, 11 points, 22 points, 14 points scored. Um, you know, and then if we take a look at the Chargers, I mean, the Chargers are kind of middle of the road, but I mean, they have allowed 17 points two weeks ago and then eight points this past week. Um, I think this has all the makings of a very good field goal matchup between two kickers if you can get down with that sort of thing. So, I think this is a week where we can see Aubrey go ahead and get himself another 10 points, which would go ahead and that would give Brandon Aubrey, that would give him six, that would give him seven games with at least 10 points. He could even get 15, which he's already has three games of 15 or more points. So again, Brandon Aubrey in tier one, the third of the three or four kickers in my tier one.
And we will now round out tier one. And we're going to go with Ka'imi Fairbairn of the Houston Texans. You guys know I was excited about him uh when I was previewing the playoffs. And a big reason why was that all of his games are being played indoors. But another reason why I'm surprised about him is just like, look at these weeks that he's had. He had 14 points, 15 points, then he missed two games due to injury. Came back and the dude did not miss a beat. 11 points and back-to-back weeks of eight points and then 18 points. Uh, you know, we're going to have Fairbairn going up against the Las Vegas Raiders. And this is the kind of thing I kind of like too. Is I've noticed some people talked about like CJ Stroud and fantasy and they were like, "Well, what happens if the, what happens if the Texans pull away and they're just like going to town on on the Raiders?" Which I mean, a lot of teams go to town on the Raiders. So, so to me, I envision that as well, even if that, even if they take out some of their players, they're not going to take out their kicker. And if the offense is still moving, we're still going to get Fairbairn to score some more points. So, while he's not, you know, my one, two, or three ranked kicker, he is still in tier one. Very happy to have him there. So, Ka'imi Fairbairn, if you've got him, definitely fire away. Uh, and uh, enjoy the ride. And again, I'm going to love him again next week because he's going to be indoors again, but we'll preview that next week.
We'll go to tier two now. And my uh my next ranked kicker, which is going to be number five on the list, apologies for that, is going to be Andy Borregales of the New England Patriots. He's going to be going up against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore. This is a Sunday night football game. The weather doesn't appear to be too terrible right now. There could be some wind, but nothing that uh not not as bad as last week with Andy Borregales. And this is kind of the thing too. Is we've got we've got them, being the Patriots, coming off of which I think was a good loss for them uh against the Buffalo Bills. Young football team. I think they needed a little bit of humble pie. Not to say that they were being too cocky anyway, but a little humble pie never hurt anybody. I think they come back swinging this week, and I think that benefits an Andy Borregales. If you look at the Ravens here, even with the Ravens allowing zero points last week, they are still fourth in the league in points allowed to the kicking position with 139 total on the year, 9.9 points on a per game basis. Uh, and then they've also had six games where they've allowed 10 or more points. And they even, if you look at prior to last week where they allowed zero points to the Bengals, but the Bengals are in their own dilemma here. They allow nine points, 24, then you get five, but then you get 11, nine, eight, 11. So, and that was all after their bye week. So, I like the trend that we get here. And then in terms of Andy Borregales, I mean, let me pull this up here. Andy Borregales, listen, he wasn't one of my favorite kickers last week, and it was due to the wind, and it kind of showed. He only had seven points, but if you look prior to that, 15 points, 16 points, nine points. Now, this is going to be a New England Patriots team that's going to want to come out swinging, make an example of the Baltimore Ravens. I think this is, this could be bad news um for the Baltimore Ravens. So, not just because of Andy Borregales, but because of a pissed-off Patriots team. But Borregales benefits, and he is my number five ranked kicker.
Let's get into number six. And uh, I will say, any money is in tier two, and he is a literal coin flip between Andy Borregales. These guys are in tier two all by themselves. Then we'll get to tier three. Um, Eddie Piñeiro came back last week. Obviously, he missed two games. Then the 49ers had a bye, but he comes back with 13 points scored. Prior to that, we all know what he was doing. 11 points, two points, 12 points, one point. We had some tough weeks there. But now we got Brock Purdy back. The field goals should be more consistent. Um, and he's on the year. He's got seven games with 10 or more points. This is going to be a 49ers team on Monday Night Football going up against Old Man Rivers. So, uh, I, I, I think this is a nice opportunity because I will say this too, the Colts defense is pretty darn good still. I mean, they held the Seahawks to a lot of field goals. I don't think that Piñeiro is going to get the kind of field goal action that Jason Myers got last week, but I still think that he can get a decent amount. So, I like Eddie Piñeiro in this spot. I think he's going to put up some points on Monday Night Football. So, if you have Eddie Piñeiro, he's my sixth ranked kicker. Feel good about it. Fire him up.
This one's a little bit of a surprise unless you've been paying attention. I know some guys in the fantasy circles I've talked to on X at the FF Realist have talked to me. Uh, it's going to be Zane Gonzalez of the Atlanta Falcons at the Arizona Cardinals. And yes, listen, sometimes I have picks that it's all about, it's about the connection. It's about the matchup and, you know, the player and the defense. Sometimes it's about the player. This one, it's all about the defense and what they are allowing. The Arizona Cardinals are tied for first with 153 points allowed on the year. Um, a league-high nine games with 10 or more points allowed. Nine out of 14 games they're allowing double-digit points. They're allowing over the last three games 12.3 points on a per game basis. Look at this since the bye, right? So they have their bye week. Then they come out low, five points allowed. All right. After that, 15, 14, 13, 10, nine, 18. They're allowing a ton of points at the kicking position here. And I understand the Falcons offense is not a juggernaut. I know we saw Kirk Cousins get 32 points last week, but that's not going to be an every-week thing. But I do think the Falcons offense against a bad defense, I know we all projected the Cardinal defense to be better, but they're bad. Let's just face it. This is a nice opportunity for Zane Gonzalez to have a great week. So, if I'm reading off some of these names, and by the way, this starts off tier three. If I'm reading off some of these names, and if you're like, "Damn, I don't have that one. Damn, I don't have that one." If all these guys are rostered, Zane Gonzalez is that one chip in there. He's probably one of the lowest rostered players in my top 12, maybe except for number 12, which we'll get to in a little bit. So, Zane Gonzalez, like him a lot. Feel free to fire him up this week. It's, and again, it's indoors, which is something that we also love.
Um, let's get to our seventh, eighth ranked kicker. I apologize, getting excited. Chase McLaughlin. This is why I said towards the top, if I have a kicker ranked eighth, seventh, or eighth, do not panic. Chase McLaughlin is one of those kickers. Do not panic. Going to be going up against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina Panthers, listen, they are towards, they're towards the lower half in the league in points allowed to the kicking position. But if you look at recently, I mean, over the last four games that they've had, they had a week 14 bye, but 12 points allowed, nine points, four points, then the bye, but then last week they allowed 10 points. Um, Chase McLaughlin has done well against the Carolina Panthers in the past. And, you know, if I'm taking a look here, Chase McLaughlin last three weeks, 10 points, eight points, 10 points. So, he's scoring the points here. The weather is supposed to be good in Carolina. Um, you know, he's got, here's the thing. He's got three games of 15 or more points. The average is a little bit lower than some of the guys ahead of him. Uh, only 8.9 on a per-game basis, but that's that's getting dragged down by one week in which he had one point. Uh, that was back in week 12, and then he had two points all the way back in week two. But, uh, you know, we're not worried about that. But Chase McLaughlin is our eighth ranked kicker. If you have him, play him. I still love him. The ranking, don't, don't read it the wrong way.
The next guy we're going to get into here, and I haven't put him in my top 12 in a bit, but I like this opponent, and I liked what they did on Sunday Night Football, that is the Minnesota Vikings, and that is Will Reichard. Excuse me. Not even to say so much his performance, but it's, it's, you know, he did have 12 points, but it's more about also who he's going up against. Um, I hope the offense keeps moving in Minnesota, but they are going to be going up against the New York Football Giants. This is in New York. As of now, the weather doesn't look terrible. There could be some wind involved. I think the snow for the most part, as somebody who is an East Coaster here and uh, currently has my phone in rice as I have some water damage from doing some shoveling. So, that's awesome. But yeah, the Giants over the last three weeks, you guys don't give a about that. But the Giants over the last three weeks, their last three games, cuz they also had a week 14 bye, just like the Panthers. Um, you're looking at 12 points allowed, 15 points allowed, 13 points allowed. This Giants defense is just leaking like a sieve. And I'm not, I understand the players have pride. They want to play, yada yada yada, but this is a team, listen, they just want to end the goddamn season. Pardon my language, but they just want to end the season already. Some guys are going to start making business decisions. I think this is going to put the Vikings in a good position to do some damage offensively, which should put Will Reichard in a position to score some fantasy points. So, I like Will Reichard here, my ninth ranked kicker. I think we could see an eight to 10 point thing here. I, I, I really truly do against the New York Football Giants. Um, that is going to round out my tier three.
My 10th ranked kicker is Chris Boswell of the Pittsburgh Steelers going to be at the Detroit Lions. This is a Sunday game at 4:00. Obviously, we know that this game is going to be indoors. Then, and if we look at the points allowed, you know, again, we've had a large string here. The Lions over the last seven games have allowed 10 or more points in five of those seven games. One game where they didn't, they allowed five. Another game they allowed eight. But if you look even over the last, even if you look over the last two games here, eight points, 23 points, 12 points. So there's a lot of points being allowed here um by the Detroit Lions. And you know, I, I just think that their defense isn't playing as well as they should. So I think that's going to put Boswell in a position to score some points. Now, Boswell hasn't played great, I grant you. Um, but if you're in a bind for a kicker, he still makes my top 12. He is still my 10th ranked kicker. So, um, I would put Boswell out there if you need him. Again, if you have any questions or comments, fire it in there. If there's a better option, I'll give you one. Uh, it, it should be one of the nine other names I've read. Um, but the other kicker I'm going to mention is playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers of the Detroit Lions, and that is going to be Mr. Jake Bates. I like Jake Bates in this matchup as well. Uh, Jake Bates has been faring much better over the last four games as opposed to Chris Boswell, whom I mentioned. Um, over the last four weeks, he has had three games with double-digit points. Those points being 12, 14, and 10. Um, and I, I just kind of picture this one being a little bit of a slugfest. I mean, if even if you look at the Patri, uh, the Steelers defense here over the last, what, over the last six games, seven games, 12 points, 14, 8, 8, 10, and then last week five. But that was against the Dolphins, and that was in a cold weather game. And we know how this, we know how the Dolphins play when they're in the cold. They wilt like flowers. So, um, the Giants, uh, the Giants, the Lions will not wilt at home. So, give me Jake Bates here. Uh, as we start to get to the tail end of my top 12 rankings, we'll put him at 11.
My 12th ranked kicker on the week is going to be Harrison Butker. Rams. Again, going to be at the Seattle Seahawks. I like what I've seen from Butker over the last few weeks. You guys have known this. He's been a streamer for me a couple times, but I have him back, I have him back at 12 because I'm still a little bit worried about the weather here. So, that's a little cause of, cause for concern here. I mean, he did over the last, you know, three out of the last four weeks, 12 points, four points, nine points, and 11 points. So, he's been producing, but again, this ranking is all about the weather. Butker, guys like Butker, guys like Reichard, I don't think he's too highly owned. Definitely Zane Gonzalez. These are guys among my top 12 that aren't rostered in a ton of leagues. So if you're in a bind, he is a guy that could help you out. So that does round out my tier four. So those are my top 12 kickers for week 16. Again, if you guys have any questions or comments, fire it into the chat here. I will gladly answer you. But until next time, stay thirsty, be kind to one another, and most importantly, let's punch the ticket to the finals. I'll talk to you then.
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