The Scott Fish Bowl always throws up some new ideas, and 2021 is no different- with the option of kickers as a flex option! Personally, I never liked kickers in fantasy before. But this option makes them interesting to me.
Certainly, I had to try and understand just how valuable a kicker would be in this format. So….. following up on our general post about the SFB scoring, you can find that here, I thought I’d follow up with this.
Kickers Scoring
From the information that Scott has released, you could play up to 4 kickers. The scoring for them is:
- Decimal scoring for field goals (i.e a 37 yard FG = 3.7 points, 24 yard FG = 2.4 points)
- 1 point for an extra point
- -3 for a missed FG
- -1 for a missed XP
The scoring itself is interesting from the perspective of the decimal scoring especially as I’ve not seen that before.
Kickers in the Flex!?
So that brings us to the point of this article- can you actually put kickers in your flex position? And what is the relative value of them to the other positions? Let’s get into it!
Kickers Compared To Other Positions
With the lineup option that is currently being muted by Scott, you can start up to 4 kickers in the flex position. That means that when we are looking at how viable a kicker is going to be, we need to compare scoring across all positions. Doing so for the top scoring kicker for each season:
| Season | Highest Scoring Kicker | K points Total | QB Finish | RB Finish | WR Finish | TE Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Jason Sanders | 169.10 | QB21 | RB22 | WR35 | TE15 |
| 2019 | Harrison Butker | 155.50 | QB24 | RB29 | WR38 | TE13 |
| 2018 | Ka’imi Fairbairn | 158.20 | QB21 | RB28 | WR31 | TE13 |
So clearly, the kicker position is actually going to be VERY viable for the SFB. Infact, they are finishing on average over the past 3 years as the QB22, RB26, WR35, TE 14. That’s insane!
So how viable are kickers?
The next thing to consider is just how many options are there? Looking at season-long finishes, there were 11 kickers that finished as QB26 or better in 2020- 11!! Then I thought “but I’m playing weekly, what do the weekly finishes look like?”
From the above, there were:
- 149 occasions where a kicker finished with 10 or more points,
- 36 occasions where a kicker finished with 15 or more points,
- 5 occasions where a kicker finished with 20 or more points
Dataset
As you know, I’m always happy to share data for the SFB. And this is no exception. I’ve gathered scoring for kickers from 2018 onwards, with week-by-week scoring. You can access the sheet (and make a copy to your Google Drive) here.
If you find this sheet useful, please consider making a donation to charity. Any cause, for any amount. Let me know if you donate! If you are stuck for a cause, then head over to this Just Giving page, where we are raising money for a local charity that is raising money for kids to have a good start in life.
Conclusion
I used to draft kicker in my last pick (or second last) in all drafts that needed them. But, with this scoring, they really have value over middling WR and TE options. Where they are borderline for me would be when I’m looking at low-level QB and RB options.
In a Superflex format, I always want to have the option of having a QB to start, and equally, we know RB is really valuable. Finding those late-round gems can be real tournament winners. Kickers just might be that waiver wire fill-in that you need, as a reliable option.
Image Credit: Steve Mitchell – USA TODAY Sports
