With the dog days of summer unfolding by the day, the dawn of another NFL season is drawing ever closer, with the rite of passage that is fantasy football taking center stage for fans of the sport in places like North Carolina and across America.
Few positions in fantasy can make or break a team quite like the kicker position, with special teams stalwarts chipping in double-digit totals with ease each Sunday to buoy a teamās chances, while a bad investment in a kicker can ultimately prove costly for players of all skill levels.
Using our North Carolina sports betting mind, BetCarolina.com wanted to see what tight ends had the greatest jumps in rankings between the end of the 2023-24 season and the 2024 preseason. We found the 2024 preseason ranking on FantasyPros.com, and then compared that ranking to the 2023 season fantasy rankings listed on FFToday.com.
Biggest Kicker Jumps In Fantasy Football
The info below will help you understand the current value of these kickers. It could help you make certain decisions on North Carolina sports betting apps this season.
Rank, Player (Team) | 2023 Final Ranking | 2024 Preseason Ranking | YoY Difference |
| 26 | 4 | +22 |
T2. Graham Gano (NYG) | 33 | 24 | +9 |
T2. Evan McPherson (CIN) | 19 | 10 | +9 |
4. Jake Moody (SF) | 14 | 7 | +7 |
T5. Tyler Bass (BUF) | 15 | 9 | +6 |
T5. Daniel Carlson (LV) | 23 | 17 | +6 |
7. Younghoe Koo (ATL) | 13 | 8 | +5 |
T8. Jason Sanders (MIA) | 9 | 5 | +4 |
T8. Eddy Pineiro (CAR) | 27 | 23 | +4 |
10. Matt Prater (ARI) | 25 | 22 | +3 |
Which NFL Kickers Have Improved Most?
Across the 32-team league, no NFL kicker saw the type of year-over-year glow-up that Kaāimi Fairbairn of the Houston Texans did, going from being ranked as the 26th-best kicker in the NFL to the fourth-ranked player at that position, representing a +22-year-over-year difference.
The 30-year-old has chipped in an approximate value (via Pro-Football-Reference.com) of 21 in 106 NFL games, hitting 175-of-201 field goal attempts (87.1%) and serving as one of the most consistent kickers in the league, thus warranting his massive jump on the kicker leaderboard this season.
Other big-time movers in 2024 include New York Giantsā veteran Graham Gano, who went from 33rd to 24th (+9) in the league, while Evan McPherson of the Cincinnati Bengals saw a similar jump, going from 19th last year to 10th in 2024.
Jake Moody of the San Francisco 49ers (+7 spots), Tyler Bass of the Buffalo Bills and Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson (+six spots each) rounded out the NFLās top five year-over-year movers at the kicker position, while Atlanta Falconsā kicker Younghoe Koo (+5 spots), Jason Sanders of the Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthersā kicker Eddy Pineiro (+4 spots each) were the next closest.
Rounding out the NFL top 10 when it came to year-over-year improvement at the kicker position was Matt Prater of the Arizona Cardinals, who went from being the 25th-ranked player at that position at the end of the 2023 league year to No. 22 in 2024.
All 10 will likely prove crucial to their respective teams as they look to make the postseason this fall, as kickers can be true X-factors for NFL franchises that are on the precipice of a renaissance campaign during the 2024 league year.
USA Today photo by Scott Galvin.
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Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
