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Doug Orth | Archive | Email |
Staff Writer


Big Boards: Kickers & D/STs
Preseason Matchup Analysis
8/30/16
PPR | 0.5 PPR | Non-PPR | Ks & D/STs

As usual, let’s pay our respects to the kickers and defense/special teams units that help us decide our fantasy fates each and every season.

Let’s revisit the color-coding system before we start:

Red – A very difficult matchup. For lower-level players, a red matchup means they should not be used in fantasy that week. For a second- or third-tier player, drop your expectations for them at least one grade that week (i.e. from WR2 to WR3). For elite players, expect them to perform one level lower than their usual status (i.e. RB1 performs like a RB2).

Yellow – Keep expectations fairly low in this matchup. For lower-level players, a yellow matchup is a borderline start at best. For a second- or third-tier player, they can probably overcome the matchup if things fall right. For the elite players, expect slightly better than average production.

White – Basically, this matchup is one that could go either way.

Green – It doesn’t get much better than this. For non-elite players, the stage is basically set for said player to exploit the matchup. For the elite units, this matchup should produce special numbers.

 Kickers
Rk Player Tm Age
1 Stephen Gostkowski NE 31
2 Dan Bailey DAL 27
3 Steve Hauschka SEA 30
4 Chris Boswell PIT 33
5 Chandler Catanzaro ARI 24
6 Graham Gano CAR 28
7 Josh Brown NYG 36
8 Blair Walsh MIN 25
9 Justin Tucker BAL 25
10 Mason Crosby GB 30
11 Robbie Gould CHI 33
12 Sebastian Janikowski OAK 37
13 Adam Vinatieri IND 42
14 Nick Novak HOU 25
15 Cairo Santos KC 23
16 Dustin Hopkins WAS 27
17 Brandon McManus DEN 24
18 Matt Bryant ATL 40
19 Josh Lambo SD 24
20 Jason Myers JAC 24

And now the defenses…

“SD” refers to schedule difficulty. In short, here is how I scored each matchup:

Green - 1 point
Grey - 0.5
Yellow – minus-0.5
Red – minus-1

As you can tell, the defenses were not ranked based entirely on schedule difficulty. It was a strong consideration, however.

 Defense/Special Teams
Rk Team SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 Cardinals 5.0
2 Seahawks 4.5
3 Texans 5.0
4 Panthers 4.8
5 Vikings 4.0
6 Patriots 4.0
7 Broncos 3.8
8 Giants 5.5
9 Raiders 4.0
10 Steelers 3.5
11 Eagles 2.8
12 Redskins 3.5
13 Bengals 4.5
14 Jaguars 4.0
15 Packers 3.8
16 Chiefs 3.3
17 Rams 2.5
18 Jets 3.0
19 Lions 4.0
20 Bills 3.5
21 Ravens 2.3
22 Bucs 3.8
23 Titans 3.3
24 Dolphins 3.0
25 Bears 2.0
26 Cowboys 2.0
27 Chargers 2.8
28 Falcons 2.0
29 49ers 2.3
30 Saints 1.5
31 Browns 1.3
32 Colts 2.5


Next: PPR Big Board | 0.5 PPR Big Board | Non-PPR Big Board

Doug Orth has written for FF Today since 2006 and been featured in USA Today’s Fantasy Football Preview magazine since 2010. He hosted USA Today’s hour-long, pre-kickoff fantasy football internet chat every Sunday in 2012-13 and appears as a guest analyst on a number of national sports radio shows, including Sirius XM’s “Fantasy Drive”. Doug is also a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.