Week 4 fantasy football rankings: 3 kickers to stream, 3 to fade

The best part about NFL football is it keeps you on your toes. Whenever we think we know something, it proves us wrong. The National Football League keeps us humble. I think that’s important. Week 3 was a reminder of that humility.

What an awful week for the kicker position, by the way. In the first two weeks of the season, kickers averaged 9 and 9.8 fantasy points, respectively. In Week 3, kickers only averaged 6.5 points. After kickers went 35-of-39 on field goals from 50+ yards to open the season, they turned a measly 7-of-16 in Week 3.

With the caveat that kickers were down across the board, let’s check in on last week’s calls. Matt Prater finished with 9 fantasy points, in a week where the median fantasy points scored by kickers was 6, I’m chalking up Prater as a win. Blake Grupe finished with 6 points, right on average for the week. Chase McLaughlin was the clear miss, finishing Week 3 with only one fantasy point.

As for dudes we faded, Cameron Dicker and Jason Sanders finished with 4 and 3 points, respectively. Chris Boswell, however, continues to be useful to the 3-0 Steelers, finishing Week 3 with 8 points. On to Week 4…

We’re back! I said last week that I liked Matt Prater’s Week 4 matchup. I’ll keep starting kickers versus the Commanders until I’m blue in the face. The Cardinals have attempted two field goals every game so far this season. Arizona hosts Washington, they’ll be indoors, the Cardinals are favorites and they have the highest implied point total of the week. You’ll hear analysts talk excessively about starting your wide receivers against Washington, I’m here to tell you that you should also be starting your kickers.

Ope, double dipping from last week. I think we can all agree that last week’s 6-point output isn’t winning us any fantasy matchups. The Saints will face off with the Falcons this week in what’s sure to be a close game. The spread is currently 1.5 favoring Atlanta. The second-year kicker has the luxury of kicking indoors for 12 of New Orleans’ contests this season, including this week’s matchup with Atlanta.

The Cleveland Browns have been kind of a mess to start the season, to put it kindly. But they put together a win against the Jaguars, with help from Hopkins’ three field goals. Jacksonville has given up double-digit fantasy points to kickers every week. The only other team to give up double-digit points to kickers? You guessed it, the Las Vegas Raiders. Cleveland will travel to Las Vegas this weekend to play inside Allegiant Stadium. While this game has the second-lowest over/under of the weekend, the Browns are favorites.

Miami is in quarterback purgatory right now. After losing Tua Tagovailoa in Week 2, Skylar Thompson left Week 3’s game due to injury in the 3rd quarter. As of writing this, Mike McDaniel has not named a Week 4 starting quarterback. I imagine if Thompson can’t go, it will be Tim Boyle. That does not excite me from a moving-the-ball standpoint.

Sometimes a backup quarterback is good for production (see Andy Dalton/Eddy Pineiro) but I don’t think that will be the case here.

I told you there would be a theme. A hobbled Justin Herbert played during Week 3 but left the game after aggravating his ankle injury. This weekend the Chargers will face the divisional rival Chiefs. Herbert is a tough son-of-gun, I think if he feels like he can play he will. But that offensive line, outside of Joe Alt, has struggled. The Chargers currently have the 3rd lowest implied point total of the week.

The Indianapolis kicker isn’t rostered in a ton of leagues, but it’s enough to cause concern. The Colts get the Steelers on Sunday afternoon. Pittsburgh hasn’t allowed more than 6 fantasy points to the kicker position so far this season. And the Colts’ kickers haven’t surpassed 4-points through the first three weeks.

This is our last week without byes, the pool is about to get smaller and streaming will be imperative. Lock in.