Green Bay Packers: Week 15 Fantasy Profile

Dec 3, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby (2) attempts a field goal out of the hold of Tim Masthay (8) during an NFL football game at Ford Field. The Packers defeated the Lions 27-23. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

K – Mason Crosby

Last Week: 0/0 FG, 4/4 PATs; 4.00 fantasy points

This position always frustrates me.

As I’ve said many times before, Crosby seems to line up as just about as good of an option week to week as any kicker coming into games:

• He’s attached to what is normally a high-functioning offense
• They haven’t been the best at continuing/finishing drives, even as their offense has slowly improved recently.
• He is really solid at converting all of his kick opportunities.
• Most weeks provide what seems to be a good matchup, one conducive to giving him as good a shot as any at having some field goal shots.

Despite these areas seemingly in Crosby’s favor leading into most weeks, the actual results have tended to be lackluster — especially in the ones after the bye week.

The thing is, it is kind of hard to really pinpoint any decent value for him when it is difficult to project the offense doing well enough to get in range for him to kick yet failing to reach the end-zone.

How, exactly, is someone supposed to really have a clue how a game will go? Take the Dallas game, where Green Bay went for it on an early drive near the end-zone instead of kicking it at 0-0, then miraculously scoring on long runs/catches early and late that maybe could have been stopped short.

Fantasy is a fickle game, and it may be most unpredictable with the kickers.

This week, I’m thinking we finally see a good mixture of kicks and touchdowns converted. I do think the move to take back playcalling gave a lasting spark to the offense (though that has less to do with any direct effects and more so with an indirect boost to the confidence and focus of the offensive players), so seeing them continue putting up some more points than they could manage in their recent 2-4 skid preceding the Dallas matchup.

It is almost entirely random how things end up, so take this with a grain of salt, but a couple field goals and some extra points is entirely a possibility here. Just understand that there are no guarantees as to whether he’ll even have the opportunities needed to make the impact I think he could have.

Week 15 Prediction: 2/2 FG (1 30-39, 1 40-49), 3 PATs; 10.00 fantasy Points
Verdict: Cautious Optimism

Next: The defense