by Ray Kuhn

Once again there is player movement at the position that generally gets ignored. Jake Elliot injured himself against Dallas and his status for this week remains unclear, and Cairo Santos is now kicking for the Bears. Considering those changes, and everything else, let’s take a look at how our options rank:

1. Greg Zuerlein – Los Angeles Rams – vs. New Orleans
2. Chris Boswell – Pittsburgh Steelers – vs. Green Bay
3. Stephen Gostkowski – New England Patriots – vs. Miami
4. Justin Tucker – Baltimore Ravens – vs. Houston
5. Harrison Butker – Kansas City Chiefs – vs. Buffalo
6. Ryan Succop – Tennessee Titans – at Indianapolis
7. Will Lutz – New Orleans Saints – at LA Rams
8. Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis Colts – vs. Tennessee
9. Nick Rose – Washington Redskins – vs. New York Giants
10. Kai Forbath – Minnesota Vikings – at Detroit
11. Matt Bryant – Atlanta Falcons – vs. Tampa Bay
12. Graham Gano – Carolina Panthers – at New York Jets
13. Josh Lambo – Jacksonville Jaguars – at Arizona
14. Patrick Murray – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – at Atlanta
15. Blair Walsh – Seattle Seahawks – at San Francisco

Notes:

• This week, we get Harrison Butker out of the elements of New York and back home in Kansas City. While the Chiefs struggled to do much of anything on offense, he did convert on all three of his field goal attempts. As Kansas City has struggled over the last few weeks it has had a direct impact on the rookie’s production, but it is through no fault of his own. Despite not taking the field until Week 4 Butker is still a Top 10 kicker, and he has been surprisingly efficient. He has missed just one of his 23 field goal attempts, and he is perfect on all 13 of his extra points. So far the Bills have allowed the seventh most points to opposing kickers, and playing at home should help to get the Chiefs’ offense on track.
• Another rookie kicker who got a late start to the season is Nick Rose. After replacing Dustin Hopkins Rose has five weeks of NFL experience under his belt, and generally has been efficient. If you are looking to make a switch at the kicker position then he might be an option as he is owned in just 21% of ESPN  leagues. So far in his young career Rose is eight of nine on field goal attempts while converting 13 of his 14 extra points. Over the past three weeks he has been perfect, and this week he faces the Giants at home in a game that should have a lot of offense.
• Overlooking or ignoring Blair Walsh for this week would be perfectly logical, but he is a legitimate option. Despite missing a 52 yard kick that could have sent the game into overtime on Monday, it was just a little short, Walsh and the Seahawks travel to San Francisco. That is why he should be on your radar, as the 49ers have allowed the third most points to opposing kickers this season. Walsh hasn’t had an especially strong campaign, he is 17 of 22 on field goal attempts (77.3%), but he is 21 for 22 on extra points. When the Seahawks played San Francisco earlier this season he made both of his field goal attempts while converting one extra point, but at that point in the season Seattle’s offense was struggling. The expectation is that they will have better luck this week.

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Make sure to check out all of our Week 12 rankings: