Final FronTiers-DSTs and Kickers

By Winsto (08/27/2023) UPDATED 08/29/2024

Here are the fantasy football tiers for the team defense and special teams (DST) as well as the tiers for kickers. 

In all honesty, if you play in a league that uses DSTs and kickers, please wait until the last two rounds to select them. Let us begin. 

Defense and Special Teams 

Please be aware that there tends to be more unpredictability regarding which defenses will succeed and which defenses will fall short. Again, wait until the very end of your draft. 

Tier 1 (1-4) 

  • Phi DST 
  • NYJ DST 
  • Dal DST
  • SF DST (was 1st)

 

Note: With the Nick Bosa (SF DST) saga continuing, I dropped SF DST down a bit here.  I still think it is in the top tier, but now toward the bottom.

Tier 2 (5-8) 

  • Bal DST 
  • NO DST 
  • NE DST 
  • Buf DST

 

Tier 3 (9-12) 

  • Pit DST 
  • Den DST 
  • Cin DST 
  • Mia DST

 

Tier 4 (13-22) 

  • Was DST 
  • NYG DST 
  • Cle DST 
  • Sea DST 
  • GB DST 
  • KC DST (was 10th)
  • LAC DST 
  • JAC DST 
  • CAR DST 
  • TB DST 

 

Note:  Make no mistake: the Chris Jones (KC DST) hold out will adversely affect the KS DST.  Thus, I dropped it a tier.

 

Kickers 

You should not overthink this. Ideally, you want kickers on dome teams that have the following traits: a good offense that somewhat struggles to run the ball, a good defense that will keep its offense from trying to play catch-up, and a defense that forces turnovers (which causes shorter fields for the offense). After that, go for kickers on good offenses, period (unless your offense is coached by one who believes kicking field goals on 4th down is as archaic as Blockbuster Video). Could these kickers wind up kicking more extra points than field goals? Maybe, but there is more consistency there. You could try to pursue kickers that accrue a larger percentage of their points from field goals, but there is some risk there, as offenses that are heavily reliant on field goals may have some inherent offensive issues. If that already flawed offense has a bad week, it could mean bad news for your kicker. There is nothing worse than seeing a zero next to your starting kicker’s name. 

  

Tier 1–the good (1-5) 

  • Justin Tucker, Bal  
  • Tyler Bass, Buf 
  • Harrison Butker, KC 
  • Evan McPherson, Cin 
  • Greg Zuerlein, NYJ 

  

Tier 2–the dependable (6-15) 

  • Jake Elliot, Phi 
  • Jason Myers, Sea 
  • Jason Saunders, Mia 
  • Will Lutz Blake Grupe, NO 
  • Jake Moody, SF 
  • Graham Gano, NYG 
  • Brandon McManus, Jax 
  • Cameron Dicker, LAC 
  • Brandon Aubrey, Dal 
  • Joey Slye, Was 

 

Tier 3–the questions begin (16-24) 

  • Greg Joseph, Min 
  • Daniel Carlson, LV 
  • Riley Patterson, Det 
  • Chris Boswell, Pit 
  • Younghoe Koo, Atl 
  • Nick Folk Chad Ryland, NE 
  • Cade York Dustin Hopkins, Cle 
  • Cairo Santos, Chi 
  • Matt Gay, Ind