Miracle of miracles: we found two top-7 kickers in Week 9, as Mike Nugent and Cody Parkey took advantage of favorable matchups to post a respectable seven fantasy points.
Our other Week 9 kicking streamer, Cairo Santos, was hampered by the Jets’ inability to stop Kansas City from punching it into the end zone. New York’s red zone stop rate told us that this was a risk for Santos, or any other kicker facing Gang Green. The Jets give up touchdowns on 68.8 percent of their opponents’ red zone possessions.
Four of the five best kicker matchups belong to guys who are widely owned in fantasy leagues, so beyond our optimal streaming play, we’re going to have to dig deep for viable options in Week 10. That would have been a recipe for fantasy disaster a month ago. With nine weeks of data, however, I think we can spot a few good plays.
Kickers are scoring the most schedule-adjusted fantasy points against the Falcons, Bucs, Bears, Saints, and Jaguars through nine weeks. The Chargers, Broncos, Lions, 49ers and Cowboys are allowing the fewest adjusted points to opposing kickers. San Diego makes that latter list only because they don’t stop anyone in the red zone, allowing touchdowns on a league-high 70.9 percent of red zone possessions.
Now let’s get into our Week 10 kicker options…
Chandler Catanzaro (ARI) vs. St. Louis Rams
We’re going back to Cat Man this week for a couple reasons. The Rotoviz Streaming Kicker app loves the Cardinals’ kicker in his matchup against the Rams, and if we’re looking for kickers linked to quarterbacks with favorable matchups, this makes as much sense as any kicker option for Week 10.
St. Louis sports a fantastically low 50 percent red zone touchdown rate — fourth lowest in the league — and gives up 7.8 schedule-adjusted fantasy points to kickers through nine weeks. Kickers are averaging 1.9 field goal attempts per game against the Rams. Cat Man makes a lot of sense for those who don’t have a plug-and-play option.
Catanzaro is available in 82 percent of leagues.
Shaun Suisham (PIT) at New York Jets
If you’re playing Suisham, you’re hoping the Steelers march up and down the field against a horrendous Gang Green secondary. It’s a reasonable expectation. The Jets allow touchdowns on 68.8 percent of red zone possessions, as we discovered last week with Santos.
Suisham has scored seven points or more in half of his 2014 games — not a fantastic mark, but good enough to think he can put up decent numbers in a game that Vegas sees as high scoring on the Pittsburgh side. I’d rather deploy Catanzaro, but Suisham is a fine fallback.
Dan Carpenter (BUF) vs. Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are one of the NFL’s stingiest red zone defenses, allowing touchdowns on just half of their opponents’ possessions inside the 20-yard line. Only 10 teams see more field goal attempts from opponents every week.
The Rotoviz Streaming Kicker machine has this pegged as a top-10 Week 10 matchup, and it’s worth noting that Carpenter has taken advantage of favorable matchups this season. He’s coming off a 15-point outing against the Jets and he notched 13 and 17 fantasy points to start the season.
Carpenter, 14-for-16 on the season, gets a boost from Kyle Orton‘s ability to move Buffalo’s once-stagnant offense down the field. In a bye week-riddled week, I think he makes for a sensible play.
