Kickers are the most replaceable players in fantasy football, so picking up a kicker off waivers is usually a free agent move, not a claim. The process that works: drop your incumbent early in the week, screen every available kicker on scoring settings, scoring opportunity and matchup, then add the best fit from the free agent pool before kickoff without spending priority or FAAB.
That sounds simple because the position is simple. What trips people up is the order of operations. They hold the kicker too long, they claim instead of adding, or they grab the first name on the list. Ten minutes of screening on Tuesday saves a wasted claim and usually wins the week.
Table of Contents
- What You Need
- Step-by-Step: How to Pick Up a Kicker off Waivers
- Step 1: Check Your League’s Kicker Scoring
- Step 2: Filter the Waiver Report for Real Opportunity
- Step 3: Review Field Goal Attempts and Accuracy
- Step 4: Check the Remaining Schedule
- Step 5: Investigate the Kicker Role and Team Situation
- Step 6: Check Availability Before Claiming
- Step 7: Claim the Kicker and Set a Reasonable Ceiling
- Common Mistakes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- When should I pick up a kicker off waivers?
- Is it better to claim the kicker with the most fantasy points?
- Should I drop my current kicker to add a waiver pickup?
- How do I choose between two kickers on the waiver report?
- Does a favorable schedule make a kicker worth claiming?
- How many kickers should I roster in a standard fantasy league?
- Conclusion: Make the Waiver Claim with a Plan
What You Need
Before you open the waiver report, get six things in front of you. Without them you are guessing.
- The waiver report for your league, refreshed after waivers clear, not the version from Tuesday morning.
- Your league’s kicker scoring settings, including whether distance bonuses exist and what a missed kick costs you.
- Field goal attempt and make totals by season and by game for each candidate kicker.
- The remaining schedule, including byes, opponent defensive strength and home or road splits.
- Injury and coaching notes, especially a holder change, a new special teams coordinator or a quarterback who favors short-yardage throws.
- The free agent pool for your kicker position, which is where the actual add happens.
If you also keep a D/ST, treat both positions in the same pass. They tend to move together, and the same screen applies to each.
Step-by-Step: How to Pick Up a Kicker off Waivers
The seven steps below run in order. Skipping step one is how people end up with a kicker who scores fine in their league and badly in yours.
Step 1: Check Your League’s Kicker Scoring
Scoring decides which kicker is best for you, so read it before you read any projection. A standard format gives one point per extra point, three per field goal and one extra point for anything 50 yards or longer. Some leagues go much further: four-point scoring, a 50-plus bonus, a bonus for four field goals, or a penalty for a missed kick.
Under bonus-heavy scoring, a high-volume kicker on a good team beats a boom-or-bust specialist every time, because every attempt adds value. Under a format that punishes misses, accuracy matters more than volume. The same player can be an excellent add in one league and dead weight in yours, which is exactly why the scoring screen comes first.
Step 2: Filter the Waiver Report for Real Opportunity
Cut the list before you evaluate it. Keep only kickers who actually kick, and drop anyone buried on the depth chart behind a kicker who is returning from injury.
Two filters handle most of it. First, is this player the designated starter, or the backup who got one game because of a late injury? Second, is his team’s offense giving him chances, or is the offense so conservative that he is averaging three attempts? A kicker on a team that goes three-and-out on six of ten drives has limited ceiling no matter how good his foot is.
Step 3: Review Field Goal Attempts and Accuracy
Ignore weekly projections for kickers. Managers on r/fantasyfootball say the same thing every season: the site projections for the position are noise, and a simple four-game average tells you more.
Look at attempts, makes, accuracy percentage and where the misses fall. A kicker going 5-for-6 with one miss from 55 yards is far better than it looks. A kicker going 3-for-6 with two misses under 40 yards is worse. Then check the trend line across the last four games rather than the last one, because a single 20-point game usually means his team found the end zone more than he kicked well.
Step 4: Check the Remaining Schedule
Once volume is established, the matchup decides the ceiling. Most streaming models that work use a handful of concrete thresholds, and they are worth adopting as defaults until you build your own read.
| Factor | Target range | What it does for the kicker |
|---|---|---|
| Team implied total | 24.5 points or higher | More drives inside the red zone, more scoring chances |
| Point spread | Favored by 3 to 7.5 | Controls the ball, gets into the second half |
| Stadium | Dome or indoor preferred | Removes wind and rain from the equation |
| Sustained wind | Under 15 mph | Above that, bench an outdoor kicker if you can |
| Altitude | High elevation venues help | Longer carries, more attempts from range |
Then account for the rest of the season. A kicker with a bye in two weeks might be worth holding through one good matchup anyway if the alternative is a worse player on a worse schedule. Run that check every week rather than deciding once at the draft.
Step 5: Investigate the Kicker Role and Team Situation
Ask whether this kicker is locked into the job. A first-year kicker who beat out a veteran is secure. A two-kicker committee means your add may only start once a coach makes a decision, and that can happen mid-week.
Also look at what changed around him. A new quarterback who throws short and often gives a kicker fewer deep chances but more red zone looks. A new offensive coordinator who likes field position gives more attempts from the 40. And a holder change alters the approach on short field goals, which quietly shifts both volume and accuracy.
Step 6: Check Availability Before Claiming
Availability is the step that decides whether you claim or simply add. Open the league’s free agent page, search the kicker position, and confirm the player is still owned by nobody. Then make sure nobody in your league claimed him in the last hour.
Here is the drop-candidate order I use when the kicker slot has to be emptied. Work down the list and stop at the first one that does not hurt your lineup.
| Order | Drop candidate | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your current kicker | The only player whose weekly output is fully replaceable |
| 2 | Your D/ST | Same reasoning, and you can stream it too |
| 3 | Bench running back with no path to a role | Blocked behind two players ahead of him |
| 4 | Bench receiver owned for one game only | Predictable snap share decline coming |
| 5 | Flex player at a position you have depth in | Only when you already own two options at the position |
| Never | A starter | One bad kicker week is not worth losing a starter |
Watch the waiver window, because it differs by host. On ESPN, dropped players clear waivers at a set time and any owner can claim them in order. On Yahoo, waivers run overnight and there is a game-time window that closes shortly before kickoff. On NFL.com and Fantrax the settings differ again, and some leagues run a first-come, first-served free agent pool with no waiver report at all. Check your league settings page once and you will never be surprised by a transaction again.
Step 7: Claim the Kicker and Set a Reasonable Ceiling
Add the kicker, then set a realistic expectation before kickoff. A streaming kicker projected for 7 to 11 points is doing exactly what you want, and beating that number is upside rather than the plan.
Then decide whether to keep him. My rule: if he produced in the two games after you added him and his next two matchups still clear the thresholds from step four, hold. Otherwise drop and re-stream next week. And if you grabbed a skill player in the kicker spot instead, put the kicker back before kickoff rather than leaving a hole in your lineup.
Common Mistakes
Chasing the highest scorer from last week. A 20-point week means his team scored a lot, not that he kicked well. Use the four-game average instead.
Spending a waiver claim on a kicker. Kickers are interchangeable, and roughly a dozen owners will want the same one. A claim spent here is a claim unavailable for the running back who actually changes your record. Add kickers from free agency and keep priority for scarce players.
Ignoring waiver priority order. In priority leagues, whoever is first on the list wins regardless of need. Check where you sit before you decide anything.
Overlooking competition on the depth chart. A backup kicker is a temporary add at best. If another kicker is returning, pass and find the next name.
Overvaluing weather. Wind above 15 mph matters, but so does an indoor stadium, a favored team and a red zone offense. A bad forecast on a bad team is not a reason to add a different kicker, because that kicker has the same weather and the same bad team.
Adding before checking league settings. Bonus scoring, penalties for misses and free acquisition budgets change which kicker is right. Read the settings first, always.
Waiting until Sunday night to act. By then your waiver options are gone and you are grabbing whatever is left. Screen Tuesday, add Wednesday, adjust Sunday morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I pick up a kicker off waivers?
Start your screening on Tuesday and have the add done before Wednesday night. Waiting until Sunday means the good matchups are already owned and you are choosing from leftovers. If you play in a league with game-time windows, you can still fine-tune the swap Sunday morning for weather, but do the research earlier.
Is it better to claim the kicker with the most fantasy points?
No. Recent points reflect scoring drives, not kicking skill, and they say nothing about the rest of the season. Screen on field goal attempts, accuracy, implied team total and matchup instead. A kicker averaging eight points on steady attempts is usually a better add than one who hit 20 last week on three kicks.
Should I drop my current kicker to add a waiver pickup?
Usually yes, if the pickup has a better matchup on paper. That is the whole streaming model, and it is why dropping the kicker every week has a dedicated weekly following on r/fantasyfootball. The exception is a kicker you already hold with several good matchups left and no bench spot free to swap through.
How do I choose between two kickers on the waiver report?
Compare them on opportunity first, then matchup. Take the one on the team with the higher implied total, the better point spread and the indoor game. If those are equal, use the four-game average on attempts and accuracy. Ties after that mean it genuinely does not matter, so take whoever is available in more of your league’s matchups.
Does a favorable schedule make a kicker worth claiming?
Often, yes, but only combined with stable opportunity. A great schedule helps a kicker who is already taking four or five attempts a game. It does nothing for a kicker on a team that cannot reach the end zone, and it cannot fix a kicker sharing the job with a teammate. Check volume first, then let the schedule break the tie.
How many kickers should I roster in a standard fantasy league?
One is enough in a normal 16-team redraft league, because the position is fully replaceable through free agency. Rostering a second kicker only makes sense with a lot of bench space, a keeper or dynasty format, or a bye week you cannot cover cheaply. In superflex leagues the kicker spot is often better used for a skill player you plan to start.
Conclusion: Make the Waiver Claim with a Plan
How to pick up a kicker off waivers comes down to three checks in this order: your league’s scoring settings, the candidate’s scoring opportunity by attempt, and his matchup for the coming week. Drop the incumbent early so you have a roster spot, add from the free agent pool rather than spending priority or FAAB, and set the expectation at a projected 7 to 11 points. Then run the same screen again next week.
