Fantasy Football 2012 - Kicker Rankings Week 7

Week 7 is here and it's time again to rank the kickers. I am a believer that past performance is a good indicator of future success with kickers. So, here is the list of the top ten kickers YTD, as ranked by fantasy points per game:

You'll notice that "everyone's" #1 kicker in the preseason (David Akers) isn't even in the Top 10 (he's 14^th). So, once again, please people, stop drafting kickers before your last pick. Akers is actually the kicker that has missed the most field goals of any kicker in the NFL in 2012. He is 11 of 16. His 50 points this year is tied with the Cleveland Browns' Phil Dawson who is 12 for 12.

Fantasy Points Against is a measure of the average number of fantasy points allowed by an opposing team, year-to-date. Although, I think this stat is most important for running backs and quarterbacks, the ranking of the kicker data may show us which defenses are most susceptible to kicker scoring. Those "bend but don't break" squads that give up a lot of FG's. These five teams are allowing the most fantasy points to kickers:

(1) CAR Panthers (11.8)

(2) TEN Titans (10.7)

(3) DET Lions (10.6)

(4) OAK Raiders (10.4)

(5) NO Saints (10.0)

The bye weeks continue in Week 7, so be sure to bench Nick Novak (SD), Alex Henery (PHI), Matt Prater (DEN), Ryan Succop (KC), Matt Bryant (ATL) and Dan Carpenter (MIA).

Here are our Sweet Sixteen rankings:

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