3 kickers to stream, 2 to fade in Week 13 fantasy football

Linda Godfrey offers streaming advice for the kicker position in Week 13 fantasy football

If you’re reading this it means you survived the massive bye week. The good news is this week there are no teams on bye, the bad news is Week 14 will be just as brutal as Week 12. At least we have a reprieve this week.

Before we jump into Week 13, let’s check on how I did for y’all last week. Wil Lutz finished the week as the number one kicker, scoring 22 fantasy points against Las Vegas. (Spoiler alert: We’re targeting the Raiders’ opponent again this week.) Austin Seibert was playable, but missed a field goal and two extra points, capping his output at 9 fantasy points. Seibert was returning from injury and there was a bad snap in the midst of all those misses. On Tuesday afternoon, Seibert was placed on IR. Joey Slye was a disappointment. When the game started with the Patriots driving and a field goal attempt I thought “holy crap, this is going to pay off”, but Slye ended up only taking one PAT for the remainder of the contest. Dustin Hopkins and Justin Tucker were both good fade calls, but Brandon Aubrey showed back up for our fantasy rosters in Week 12.

Now what does Week 13 have in store for us?

Streams

Spencer Shrader or Matthew Wright- Kansas City Chiefs (0% rostered)

Spencer Shrader did not practice on Tuesday with a hamstring injury, only a couple of days removed from his game-winning field goal against Carolina. What a bummer. The Chiefs have already added journeyman Matthew Wright to their practice squad.

Shader has been perfect this season in his limited action and Wright has a career field goal record of 43-of-50. But if you’ve been reading anything I write this year, you know field goal accuracy isn’t necessarily what we’re looking for.

Kansas City averages 2.1 field goal attempts per game going into Week 13. This week the Chiefs square off in a divisional matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders have allowed double-digit fantasy performances to kickers every week but two this season (Week 4 against the Browns and Week 7 against the Rams.) They’re allowing a league-high 2.6 field goal attempts to opponents this year.

Keep an eye on the happenings in Kansas City, whoever is booting for them this weekend is a great streaming option.

Zane Gonzalez - Washington Commanders (0% rostered)

I had already written about why I would be streaming Austin Seibert this week against the Tennessee Titans, but that’s okay. I’m nothing if not quick to pivot. Seibert was put on IR mid-Tuesday afternoon. We’ll roll with Zane Gonzalez who got some playing time while Seibert tried to return from injury.

Washington is second in the league in average field goal attempts per game with 2.9 attempts. The offense has the chance to go nuclear at the drop of a hat, which we witnessed in the 4th quarter last weekend against Dallas.

This week, Washington gets a Tennessee team that’s allowing an average of 2.0 field goal attempts per game to opponents. Washington are the favorites going into this game and they’ve got a top-10 implied point total on the week.

Chase McLaughlin - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (32% rostered)

Chase McLaughlin started this fantasy season hot, but he’s fallen off in the last several weeks. Whether that’s from the Bucs losing Chris Godwin (for the year) and Mike Evans (who made it back in Week 12) or something else entirely. What I do know is that the Carolina Panthers allow the 4th most fantasy points to opposing kickers, including several double-digit performances.

Additionally, Chase and the Bucs will get Las Vegas next week and you should be starting him in that spot next week, too. A two birds, one stone addition to your fantasy football team this week.

Fades

Younghoe Koo - Atlanta Falcons

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Chargers still have not allowed a double-digit performance to an opposing kicker this season. Koo hasn’t had a top-12 kicker performance since Week 6 against Carolina. I don’t expect him to get back to his roots this week (or next week against Minnesota, who is allowing the least points to the position after 12 weeks.)

Evan McPherson - Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals season has been nothing short of a disappointment. Evan McPherson is not absolved of that disappointing performance, either. McPherson is 15-of-21 on field goal attempts this year. This week Cincinnati is hosting Pittsburgh for a divisional matchup this Thanksgiving weekend. The Steelers are allowing the 3rd-fewest points to fantasy kickers. I’m tempering expectations on McPherson in Week 13.

Happy No Bye Weeks and Happy Thanksgiving. May you enjoy laughter, food, and football with your friends and family, whatever that might look like.