It's ignorant to think defense/special teams and kickers don't matter at all. These are spots where at the very most you'll gain an edge over the rest of your league and at the very least not have to worry about making weekly add/drops.
After all, Fantasy Football shouldn't be high-maintenance when it doesn't have to be.
But the appeal of these overlooked roster spots has to deal with the talent and opportunities involved. A great Fantasy DST can be started against anyone. A great kicker on a good offense should have your complete confidence as long as weather isn't a huge factor.
Not every DST and not every kicker can embody those things, so if you can't find a kicker you deem reliable or a defensive unit you'd trust against good offenses, at least pick units/players with good early-season matchups.
It's not a mistake to play in a league with DSTs or kickers, but it is a mistake to take them sooner than they should go. Use these tiers to properly value them within the last three rounds of your draft.
Here are Dave Richard's kicker and defense/special teams rankings. Richard's other positional tiers and strategies can be found at the links below.
Kicker and DST tiers (updated 9/1)
Third-to-last round
Rams DST
Washington DST
Buccaneers DST
Broncos DST
Second-to-last round
Ravens DST
Patriots DST
Steelers DST
49ers DST
Harrison Butker
Justin Tucker
Younghoe Koo
Last round
Bills DST
Rodrigo Blankenship
Greg Zuerlein
Jason Sanders
Saints DST
Ryan Succop
Matt Prater
Dolphins DST
Chiefs DST
Matt Gay
Robbie Gould
Brandon McManus
Jason Myers
So which sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get Fantasy cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Josh Allen's huge season, and find out.
