Week 4 Rankings (2016): Top 15 Kickers

by Ray Kuhn

For those of you who like to argue against kickers, last week was relatively quiet. Per ESPN standard scoring, only two kickers scored more than 13 points; and Justin Tucker at 17 should not come as a surprise to anyone. Let’s take a look at how the kickers rank for this week:

1. Justin Tucker – Baltimore Ravens – vs. Oakland
2. Dustin Hopkins – Washington Redskins – vs. Cleveland
3. Stephen Gostkowski – New England Patriots – vs. Buffalo
4. Dan Bailey – Dallas Cowboys – at San Francisco
5. Graham Gano – Carolina Panthers – at Atlanta
6. Josh Lambo – San Diego Chargers – vs. New Orleans
7. Chandler Catanzaro – Arizona Cardinals – vs. Los Angeles Rams
8. Chris Boswell – Pittsburgh Steelers – vs. Kansas City Chiefs
9. Steven Hauschka – Seattle Seahawks – at New York Jets
10. Blair Walsh – Minnesota Vikings – vs. New York Giants
11. Matt Prater – Detroit Lions – at Chicago
12. Brandon McManus – Denver Broncos – at Tampa Bay
13. Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis Colts – at Jacksonville (game in England)
14. Josh Brown – New York Giants – at Minnesota
15. Matt Bryant – Atlanta Falcons – vs. Carolina

Notes:

• The leading scorer for last week was Dustin Hopkins, and he figures to have ample opportunities once again tas Washington faces the Browns. Hopkins is perfect on field goal attempts, 11 of 11, and he also has converted five extra points. Taking the field at home, Hopkins is poised to continue his early season success.
• It is highly likely that Carolina will score more than 10 points this week, and that means an increase in opportunity for Graham Gano. Gano gets the benefit of kicking in a dome against the Falcons as we look for a repeat of two weeks ago when he converted all four of his field goal attempts. Last week, Gano did miss one of his attempts, but it was from 54 yards and he also converted on a 48 yard kick.
• One of the higher over/under games this week pits the Chiefs against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. We generally like to target kickers at home as they are more accustomed to the kicking conditions, and that brings us to Chris Boswell. This has not been a productive season for Boswell thus far as he has only attempted four field goals, making three. Based on the law of averages, that should change, and Boswell is set to capitalize.