FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT KIT

Think Philly looks good in the rear-view mirror? Akers took his left foot to the Bay area, where San Francisco’s offense was good enough to set him up for 52 field goal attempts—and he was good enough to convert an NFL-record 44 en route to another league record for points. Even if the Niners convert a few more of those treys into PATs Akers has the wiggle room to remain at or near the top of fantasy point-producing kickers.

The Big Gostkowski has averaged 30 field goal attempts and 53 PATs a year since entering the league, and the New England offense shows no signs of slowing down. When you can pencil in double-digit fantasy points from your kicker spot on a regular basis, you give yourself a whole lot more wiggle room elsewhere.

Say what you want about the former first-round pick, Seabass has been solid. And now that he has an offense giving him chances—the last two seasons have produced the most field goal attempts of his career as well as two top-five PAT opportunities—he’s throwing up triple-digit point totals and paying fantasy dividends. The big leg and subsequent long field goals are an added bonus in distance scoring leagues.

08-25-12 Update: Janikowski left the game with a groin injury. We'll ding him a little until it is certain that he will be ready for week one.

Bailey’s 135 points in his first NFL season look enticing, but owners who were banking on him in the fantasy playoffs were rewarded with just two field goal attempts, one three-pointer, and not enough PATs to make up the difference. The Dallas offense looks ready to put points on the board once again, and Bailey’s late-season struggles may just lower his price for you.

Bryant bounced around for almost a decade before landing a home in Atlanta. He’s made 92 percent of his kicks in two full seasons as the Falcons’ kicker, with an offense that gives him north of 40 PATs and is threatening to push that number even higher.

(-Risk) Opportunities abound for the New Orleans kicker, but it’s a gig Hartley seems unable to hold on to. Last year it was a hip flexor injury in the preseason that cost him 16 games, bringing his four-year total to 37 missed games. That’s 10 more than he’s actually played, by the way. Obviously, if Hartley manages to avoid injury, suspension, or inaccuracy he’ll be a point- producing machine, but he’ll have to beat out John Kasay in a training camp competition to secure the gig—and Kasay is always just a phone call away.

The rookie missed three kicks in his first four games, then was perfect the rest of the way. Sure, the guy he replaced went on to set an NFL record for points, but Henery acquitted himself just fine. Philly’s offense remains potent, making Henery a solid fantasy option—and that rarest of entities, a kicker worth locking down in dynasty leagues as well.

A consistent, accurate kicker with a big leg tacking on points for an explosive offense… yep, Crosby has just about everything you could want in a fantasy kicker. Sure, there are more favorable places to kick than Lambeau in winter, but Crosby averaged 10 points per game in three December home tilts last season. If the ice and snow don’t dissuade Crosby, they shouldn’t keep you from tabbing him as your fantasy kicker.

After dipping below triple digits the past two seasons, Prater now gets to tack on points for the retooled Peyton Manning-led offense. Go ahead, dream of more PATs, more field goal attempts (preferably at the 86% accuracy rate of 2009- 2010 rather than last season’s 76%), and long kicks in the rarified Mile High air. You just might have found yourself a sleeper fantasy kicker.

(-Risk) After blowing out his knee on the opening kickoff of 2011, Kaeding is expected to be ready for the start of the season. He’ll battle Nick Novak, who replaced him last year, for what should be a plum fantasy gig: tacking on points for the always-explosive Chargers offense.