I just finished compiling the kicker stats from last year's contest. Just like this year, many of last year's $3 options were on very short leashes. And if you simply followed
@ZWK list of the safest ones, you would've been rewarded. Here's how ZWK ranked them well before the contest even closed (from safest to riskiest):
Zane Gonzalez (CAR) - Season ending IR before the contest closed, so nobody should've rostered him, but he was actually more common than Santos (431 to 427)
Graham Gano (NYG) - Kept his job all season, and finished as K6 - 8th most common K
Cairo Santos (CHI) - Kept his job all season, but missed week 4 due to injury, finished as K22 - 25th most common K
Kaimi Fairbairn (HOU) - Kept hi job all season, and finished as K15 - 11th most common K
Greg Zuerlein (NYJ) - Kept his job all season, and finished as K9 - 10th most common K
Rodrigo Blankenship (IND) - Lost his job after week 1, kicked 1 more week when Prater was hurt, finished as K30 - nearly 5 times more common than any other K in the contest
Ryan Santoso (JAC) - Cut before the contest closed, so nobody should've rostered him, but 41 rosters had him (likely early or joke entries)
Austin Seibert (DET) - Lost his job after week 3, didn't latch on to any other team, finished as K29 - 4th most common K
ZWK warned against Blankenship & Seibert, but many folks were only concerned with the possibility of rostering a cheap K on a solid O, and it backfired. Using the 4 bolded "safest" kickers, you could've chosen any 2 for $6 and scored an average of 178.45 points. For reference, the highest scoring contest kicker was Maher at 167.9 points, owned by a mere 338 folks.
The reason I posted the above was to show that selecting cheap kickers isn't as hard as many think. Just avoid the temptation of trying to find a sneaky O, and concentrate on the kicker. So, how did the masses do this year?
1220 - Hopkins - 3rd most common - In battle with Dicker when contest opened, but secured CLE gig before contest closed - barring injury, the job is his
1153 - Badgley - 6th most common - Fool's gold! Why would anyone roster this scrub? In his only full season, he led the league... in missed FG's!
817 - Carlson (Anders) - 13st most common - Great pedigree, and the only kicker GB really considered for this season
799 - Santos - 14th most common - He ain't a sexy pick, but he's been a 91% FG kicker since joining the Bears 4 years ago - he is safe
581 - Fairbairn - 19th most common - He's been the Texans kicker for 7 straight years and they are happy with him - he is safe
503 - Maher - 20th most common - I would've avoided, but I can understand why people may have chosen him
22 - Gould - 31st most common - Easy to avoid
11 - Fry- 32nd most common - Easy to avoid
5 - Shudak - 33rd most common - Easy to avoid
Overall, there were less pitfalls than last year. I think Blankenship & Seibert really scared off some folks from the cheap options this year.
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. (I spent at least 2 hours on this). Now I've got to start getting a few other things done today...
