Fantasy Football Week 18 Kicker Streamers: Harrison Mevis, Andre Szmyt, and More

If your fantasy league continues into the final week of the season, you are currently navigating the minefield of players who will miss Week 18. Some guys are injured, others are on good teams, and even others are getting benched to help their team lose.

Kicker is a position that is generally not affected by the sit-outs, as most teams don't have a backup kicker on the roster to throw in there. The position also usually suffers fewer injuries (and less-serious injuries), so sitting a guy out isn't as important.

For fantasy purposes, what you have to worry about is your kicker having his offensive stars benched, lowering his prospects (we'll look at that below). Finding a team that is trying to be competitive is often the best way to find fantasy points.

Let's look at three kickers with good matchups in Week 18 who are widely available in fantasy leagues and can easily be picked up and inserted into your lineup. Most stats are from NFL.com.

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Harrison Mevis, Los Angeles Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals

This is the one player on our list who could be affected by players sitting. The Rams can take the fifth seed if they win in Week 18 and the 49ers lose, otherwise Los Angeles will be the sixth seed. Is that enough for LA to play all their starters?

There is merit in getting to the fifth spot because that team gets to face the winner of the NFC South, a much easier game on paper than visiting the Bears or Eagles, which the No. 6 team will do. The good news is that the Rams will know if they can move up before their game because the Seahawks and 49ers play on Saturday night.

The Cardinals started out looking like they could be a playoff contender with a formidable defense, but injuries have decimated them on both sides of the ball, turning them into one of the worst teams in the league by record. Arizona has given up the fourth-most points, more than 28 per game.

If the Rams are in full force, they are likely to dominate the Cardinals and put Mevis in position for a nice fantasy day. If offensive starters are sitting out, particularly Stafford and Nacua, then it might be best to skip Mevis to mitigate risk.

Ben Sauls, New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys

Sauls is the fourth kicker that the Giants have had this season; all four kicked multiple games. It has been partly a product of injury but also because of poor performance, one of many reasons that the Giants have just three wins.

Sauls has been good, making all four field goals and all five extra points he has kicked. The lefty might get a chance to compete for the starting job next season, though injured veteran Graham Gano is under contract for one more year.

The Cowboys have allowed more points than any other team, 477 total, nearly 30 per game. Over the past four seasons (when the league switched to 17 games), only three teams have given up more. Dallas could be topped by the Bengals or Jets depending on how Week 18 goes, but it's clear that the Cowboys are poor defensively.

Dallas has allowed the second-most yards per pass attempt and the sixth-most yards per rush attempt, not stopping teams in any aspect. It's hard to find anything positive to say about this defense; even Micah Parsons couldn't turn this into an above-average unit.

The Giants aren't great on offense, but Jaxson Dart has done positive things, and they are good enough to get their kicker into position to score points. With a fantastic matchup against a struggling defense, Sauls is a decent kicking streamer.

Andre Szmyt, Cleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals

I mentioned above that the Bengals could end up as the worst defense by a points-allowed measure; they have given up just five fewer points than the Cowboys (and the Jets four fewer than Cincinnati). Also like Dallas, the Bengals can't stop teams in any facet, giving up the fourth-most yards per pass attempt and the third-most yards per rush attempt.

You will often hear coaches say something like, “Enjoy this final game; it will be the last time this group of guys is ever together in one place.” I feel the same way in fantasy football: this will be the last time we get to attack this specific group of defensive players.

The Cleveland offense isn't good. They are short at essentially every position, and even the positive young players are going down with injuries, most recently tight end Harold Fannin on Sunday (his Week 18 status is unclear).

With Shedeur Sanders (and Dillon Gabriel) leading the way, there is a ceiling on Cleveland's offense, and that affects the fantasy value of their kicker. Szmyt is at risk of being held without an attempt in any game, giving him a super-low floor.

Because of the matchup, Szmyt is still a good low-to-mid-level streamer. You can find a more dependable offense to trust, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better defense to attack than Cincinnati's.