After a summer packed with mock drafts, breakout candidates, bust alerts and sleeper talk, the preseason chatter is finally behind us. It’s time to lock in our lineups and officially kick off the 2025 fantasy football season.
Although most fantasy managers will ride with the kicker they drafted, some of you might be wondering if there is a waiver wire kicker to add that might deliver more fantasy points based on their K Score.
For those new to my weekly kicker advice article, I use a metric that I call the K Score to set my fantasy football rankings and to identify streaming options that will outperform their expert consensus ranking (ECR).
For 2025, I added two new aspects to the K Score — numeric values for both weather and kicker consistency. The lower the number, the more consistent the kicker is and the better the weather situation.
Fantasy Football Kicker Rankings & Start/Sit Advice: Week 1
Below are a few kickers I am higher on than the consensus.
Younghoe Koo (K – ATL) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 24% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
Younghoe Koo posted the worst year of his career in 2024, finishing with a field goal rate of 73.5%, well down from his career norm of 86%. Fantasy managers were clearly burned by Koo, as evidenced by his low roster percentage so far this year.
While I do not project him as a top-five kicker in 2025, I do like his matchup this week at home against the Bucs, and his next two games against the Vikings and Panthers are strong matchups as well.
Chad Ryland (K – ARI) @ New Orleans Saints: 1% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
Chad Ryland turned some heads this preseason when he launched a 72-yard kick against the Broncos, one-upping Cam Little‘s 70-yard try from the previous week.
If you are not happy with your kicker’s Week 1 matchup and are looking for someone available in nearly every league, Ryland looks to be a lock for at least seven fantasy points with a ceiling of 12+ with the Cardinals taking on the lowly Saints.
Matt Gay (K – WSH) vs. New York Giants: 18% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
Last season, I highlighted how rookie quarterbacks often struggle in the red zone, which can translate into above-average production for their kickers. We’ve seen it before with Ka’imi Fairbairn during Deshaun Watson‘s rookie year and Zane Gonzalez when Kyler Murray first took over in Arizona.
While the trend didn’t quite pay off for Cairo Santos’ managers with the Bears in 2024, it did with Washington. Despite the revolving door at the position, Commanders kickers combined to finish eighth in scoring during Jayden Daniels‘ breakout rookie season. With more stability this year, I believe Matt Gay is well-positioned to deliver top-10 production in 2025.
Week 1 Kicker Rankings
*Red Zone Efficiency is based on the inverse of how well a kicker’s offense does in the red zone. For example, the Ravens rank first in red-zone efficiency; therefore, Tyler Loop has an RZ EFF score of 31. The lower the number, the better for kickers, as playing on a team that struggles to score touchdowns in the red zone equates to more field goal opportunities.
**The K Score is the sum of a player’s opponent red zone, the red-zone efficiency of his offense and the overall rank of his respective team in terms of total yards. A low score indicates that a kicker has variables working in his favor for a good fantasy kicking performance.
Kicker rankings are based on numerous factors, including matchups, Vegas lines and score projections, weather conditions, the ability of a kicker’s team offense and their ability to move the ball into field goal range, offensive red-zone efficiency and how well the opposing defense limits touchdowns in the red zone. These factors are a guide, but not a definitive way to predict kicking success, as other variables and negative game scripts significantly impact the outcome.
Based on all of the variables mentioned above, the following two kickers are players ranked outside of FantasyPros’ top-10 ECR at the kicker position who could be excellent plays in Week 1.
Week 1 Standout Kickers
Brandon McManus (K – GB) vs. Detroit Lions: 6% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
The Packers play host to the Lions to start the season. With a K Score of 39 and one of the highest totals of the week (and the Packers favored by 2.5 points), Brandon McManus will beat his ECR (16) and sneak into the top 10 this week with between nine and 12 fantasy points.
Chad Ryland (K – ARI) @ New Orleans Saints: 1% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
I am tempted to move Chad Ryland even higher from his K6 ranking. He is going to certainly beat his ECR (11), with my only concern being that the Cardinals are too efficient against the Saints and he is left with only four or five extra points. I do not think that will be the case, and Ryland is a lock for double-digit fantasy points.
Week 1 Waiver Wire Pickups
- Chad Ryland (K – ARI) @ New Orleans Saints: 1% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
- Matt Gay (K – WSH) vs. New York Giants: 18% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
- Younghoe Koo (K – ATL) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24% Roster Percentage on Yahoo
