Week 1 Kicker Streamers, Starts and Busts - 2021 Fantasy Tiers, Rankings

September 12, 2021

Week 1 kicker rankings, tiers, streamers, busts, and start/sit advice for 2021 fantasy football. Robert Lorge's weekly K rankings and targets/avoids based on matchups.

Alright, football fans! We have officially made it. This week officially starts our march to Fantasy Football Glory. The first week of the NFL season comes with those agonizing start/sit decisions that we all love to hate so much.

The first week of the NFL season is often the easiest as it pertains to our start/sit questions because we have no data pushing us one way or the other. For the most part, we're starting out studs, the guys that we drafted. For at least one week. That is undoubtedly the right approach. After all, you drafted who you did for a reason.

Kickers are a little different, however. Fantasy managers can stream this position like they do with defenses and tight ends. It's not always the easiest situation or the most ideal, but sometimes it's all you got.

Week 1 Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings

If you read my first kicker article of the season, it's important fantasy managers target kickers on good offenses. We want our kicker's offense to have no problem moving the football and putting up points. It's equally as important to look for those good, but not great offenses. The reason being, field goals are worth three times – sometimes even more depending on your league's rules – than an extra point.

Below, you'll find my Week 1 kicker rankings, broken down into tiers. You will also find the Las Vegas over/under line for each game, as well as my confidence rating for each kicker based on a 10-point scale. Beneath my rankings, I'll dive into some great streamers to target, as well as some potential busts to avoid.

Kicker Streamers to Target

Jake Elliott, Philadelphia Eagles

With an over/under line of 48.5, Las Vegas expects this game between the Eagles and Falcons to be a high-scoring game and these are the ones we want to target. Last season, the Eagles allowed 418 points and the Falcons allowed 414, which ranked 13th and 14th most, respectively, across the league. With the addition of Jalen Hurts at quarterback and the draft selection of DeVonta Smith, the Eagles' offense is expected to be much better than it was last season.

Their offensive line is also healthy entering the season, which was a major weak link last season. The game is at Atlanta, which means dome kicking for Elliott, which is always a plus. When targeting streaming kickers, the over/under line is always a great place to start. Fantasy managers should be targeting high-scoring affairs. The Eagles should be able to move the ball relatively easily, but with a new head coach and quarterback, they may struggle to punch the ball into the end zone.

Evan McPherson, Cincinnati Bengals

This is another game that has high-scoring potential with a line of 48 points. The Bengals drafted Ja'Marr Chase in the first round and get prized quarterback Joe Burrow back under center. The Vikings allowed the fourth-most points last season and the Bengals allowed the 11th-most, so fantasy managers should be expecting a good deal of points being scored here. The Bengals' offense is loaded with talent. They go three deep at the receiver position and have Joe Mixon in the backfield. They shouldn't struggle to move the ball, but with Burrow's first return to game action since his injury, they might get held back in the touchdown department against an experienced, defensive-minded head coach.

Aldrick Rosas, New Orleans Saints

A lot of fantasy managers are leery of the Saints' offense. They lost Drew Brees at quarterback and Michael Thomas at wide receiver. On top of all of that, Wil Lutz is expected to be on IR, which will put Rosas into the starting lineup. With all the moving parts at quarterback, most fantasy managers will be ignoring the Saints' kicker. It's fair to do so, but this game has an over/under line of 50 points, so teams should be expecting a lot of points to be scored here. The Saints are likely going to be in catch-up mode most of the day as they attempt to stay stride for stride with the reigning MVP. The Packers' defense is typically defined as a "bend, but don't break unit" and if that holds true in 2021, Jameis Winston shouldn't have problems going into scoring position. The problem will actually be cashing in.

Greg Joseph, Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings' offense is often overlooked because they don't have a true, elite-tier quarterback under center, but that isn't exactly fair. They have a lot of good parts to this offense, including Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen. The Bengals' defense was atrocious last season and while it's reasonable to expect some improvement, expecting them to be "good" is quite another thing entirely. The one thing that could hold the Vikings back a bit is they are going used to a new offensive coordinator. While Gary Kubiak's son, Klint, can be expected to run a very similar offense, the fact of the matter is, this is his first time being an offensive coordinator and there might be some growing pains. The Vikings' offense is too talented to get stymied by the Bengals' defense, but they might have to settle for field goals more often than they would like.

Kicker Busts to Avoid

Robbie Gould, San Francisco 49ers

On the surface, Gould looks like an excellent play heading into Week 1. I mean, come on... they play the Detroit Lions for crying out loud. But here's the problem with that. For kickers to have really good weeks, they need at least some resistance from the opposing defense. A game of five extra points or four extra points and a field goal isn't exactly what we're aiming for when it comes to our kickers. I don't doubt the 49ers will put up points, but unfortunately, fantasy managers should expect a lot of those points to come in the form of touchdowns. The Lions are unlikely to be able to keep up and so this game ends up being the 49ers playing time-controlled football, another detriment to a nice-scoring game from your kicker.

Matt Gay, Los Angeles Rams

This is Matthew Stafford's first game with the Rams. He's had no preseason action. They've also lost Cam Akers. It would be reasonable to expect this offense to start out a little slow. The Bears' defense, while weak in the secondary, has an imposing front-seven that could give Stafford and the running game problems. With Andy Dalton set to start for the Bears, I wouldn't be surprised if this game ends up being a much lower-scoring affair. The Las Vegas line is also expecting that with an implied total of just 43.5 points. The Bears' offense is unlikely to push McVay into having to put up points and the Rams might be comfortable just coasting to a Week 1 victory where they are able to get their new quarterback's feet wet.

Greg Zuerlein, Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys are going to be without star guard Zach Martin. It's also possible La'el Collins misses this game due to a neck stringer. All of that is bad news considering this will be Dak Prescott's first game action since Week 5 of last season when he suffered that terrible ankle injury. The Buccaneers' front-seven is one of the best in football and we saw how much the Cowboys' offensive line struggled last season without some of their starters. Being on the road against the reigning Super Bowl champions in Week 1 isn't the rosiest of scenarios. While I am optimistic about the Cowboys' 2021 season, that does not include this awful matchup to start the season.

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