Taking an early look at the kickers, I notice there is no awesome, can’t-miss matchup for Week 16. There is no situation where a top-10 kicker is working against a defense ranking in the bottom-10 against the position.

This isn’t normally the case. If you look at the bottom of the averages below, for example, you’ll see five situations where a bottom-10 kicker is working against a defense that ranks among the 10 best against the position.

On the chart below, you see the 32 offenses and the 32 defenses, blended against each other. If an offense ranks in the top 10, it’s in bold. If a defense ranks in the bottom 10 (that is, favorable against offenses) it’s in bold. Ideally, you’re looking for bold against bold, and there are none of those.

The raw numbers have Josh Lambo tying for the top spot, but he’s not a kicker anybody would want. The Jaguars have really tailed off recently, while their kicker-leaky opponent (Atlanta) is playing better nowadays.

If you were trying to work the waiver wire for a kicker, probably the three options to consider would be Cincinnati (3rd), Indianapolis (12th) or Miami (14th).

KICKER AVERAGES, WEEK 16
OffenseDefenseOffDefAvg
JacksonvilleAtlanta7.148.367.75
San FranciscoLA Rams8.646.867.75
CincinnatiMiami6.369.077.71
SeattleArizona7.078.297.68
BaltimoreCleveland8.576.797.68
DetroitDenver7.148.147.64
New OrleansTennessee9.235.937.52
PittsburghNY Jets7.647.367.50
HoustonTampa Bay6.218.717.46
Kansas CityChicago9.435.367.39
Tampa BayHouston8.146.577.36
IndianapolisCarolina6.318.297.33
ArizonaSeattle8.006.647.32
MiamiCincinnati5.798.647.21
MinnesotaGreen Bay7.436.937.18
LA ChargersOakland7.506.867.18
CarolinaIndianapolis6.867.467.15
DallasPhiladelphia7.866.437.14
DenverDetroit6.647.507.07
AtlantaJacksonville7.366.797.07
ClevelandBaltimore6.936.796.86
WashingtonNY Giants5.797.866.82
PhiladelphiaDallas6.146.576.36
Green BayMinnesota6.146.506.32
LA RamsSan Francisco7.145.006.07
OaklandLA Chargers5.436.295.86
TennesseeNew Orleans4.646.925.74
NY GiantsWashington4.367.075.71
ChicagoKansas City5.715.715.71
New EnglandBuffalo7.433.715.57
BuffaloNew England6.074.365.21
NY JetsPittsburgh4.505.795.14

—Ian Allan