Every year it happens. You're in the back half of your fantasy draft, someone's scrolling kickers like it's a life decision, and somebody else already took theirs way too early and is now explaining streaming strategy nobody asked about. So let's settle it. RotoBaller just put out their expert draft strategy for kickers and defenses in 2026, and I have thoughts. Strong ones. As usual.

First, the baseline that basically every expert agrees on: wait. Wait as long as your league format allows. Kickers and team defenses are the two most volatile positions in fantasy football, week to week and season to season. Defenses near the top one year frequently fall off hard the next, and kickers ride touchdowns and game script, stuff nobody can project in August. Drafting either one early is paying real capital for a coin flip.

And I mean, this is where I get a little emotional about draft strategy, because this is the same principle I keep hammering every summer: your bench spots are for players who make you feel something. Every round you spend on a kicker is a round you're not spending on the rookie wideout you love, or the handcuff running back, or the guy whose story you're invested in. Late picks are lottery tickets. Kickers are not lottery tickets. Kickers are kickers.

Now the nuance, because there is some. Defenses tend to be draftable a bit earlier than kickers in most formats, and the logic actually holds up: elite defenses are somewhat more predictable than kickers. Great front sevens tend to stay great for a year or two. If your league starts only one defense and a run on the top units starts in the late rounds, grabbing one there isn't crazy. It's paying a small premium to avoid the streaming grind.

But streaming is the real answer for most leagues. Rotate defenses based on matchups, scoop the unit facing a rookie quarterback behind a bad offensive line, drop them the next week, repeat. It's free points if you put in five minutes of thought. Every year I argue about this with someone who actually does the math, and every year the math guy wins, and I hate it, but he's right: the week-to-week matchup matters way more than the name on the front of the jersey. Streaming a mid defense into a great matchup beats a "good" defense into a bad one more often than it should.

Kickers, even more brutal honesty: never draft one before the last round in a standard league. If your league requires one, take one with your final pick and never think about it again. If you can stream them off waivers, even better. Kicker scoring is basically random noise dressed up as a position. I'm exaggerating for effect here, but only a little: one season a guy's automatic, the next he's on the couch by November. You cannot predict it. Don't try.

The one exception worth mentioning: keeper and dynasty formats change the math a little. If your league rosters kickers and defenses with deep benches, elite ones carry a little more value because everyone has to hold one and the good ones get scarce. In that world, grabbing a top defense a round early makes sense. In a standard redraft? No. Wait.

So here's my 2026 cheat sheet. Draft your defense in the second-to-last round or stream the position all year. Draft your kicker with your final pick, or don't draft one at all and grab one off waivers before week 1. Spend every other pick on players who make you excited to watch football. Fill your roster with guys whose stories you want to follow, save the boring positions for the end, and let the kicker be someone else's problem until it absolutely has to be yours.

And if you take a kicker way too early this year, I don't want to hear about your week 8 loss. You did that to yourself.