Skill position players tend to attract the most attention from football fans and fantasy managers, but margins can be thin, and every position on the roster truly matters. Besides quarterback, kicker could be the second-most important position on the field; the Los Angeles Rams could arguably be 5-1 instead of 2-4 if they had a more reliable kicker.
In the Las Vegas Raiders’ 3-3 start, which featured competitive defeats against both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, much of the attention has gone to new head coach Klint Kubiak, quarterback Kirk Cousins, and tight end Brock Bowers. However, journeyman kicker Matt Gay has nailed 14 of his 15 field goal attempts and all 14 of his extra point tries.
As long as Las Vegas’ offense stays hot, Gay should continue to get plenty of opportunities. He’s a pretty undervalued fantasy asset at this point, as he’s owned in just 30% of Yahoo Sports leagues.
Results and Usage
Gay’s only miss this season came from 49 yards out, in the second quarter of the Raiders’ Week 5 blowout defeat to the New England Patriots, when he hit the left upright on a kick from the left hash. Other than that, he’s combined range with accuracy, attempting eight of his 15 field goals from beyond 40 yards and nailing seven of them. Gay has a history of being lights-out from distance; in 2023, he became the first kicker in league history to made four or more kicks of at least 50 yards in the same game, doing so in Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens. So far, Gay ranks sixth among kickers in FPTS per game, per FantasyPros, and he’s had at least 10 FPTS in four of his six games.
Future Outlook
The question isn’t so much whether Gay will keep making his kicks, though he did go just four-for-nine (44.4%) from beyond 50 yards in 10 games last season with the Washington Commanders, the latter two of which cost the Commanders a game and ultimately led to his release. He’s still demonstrated plenty of accuracy throughout his career, making at least five-sixths of his field goal attempts in five of his eight campaigns. The more pressing question is whether or not Kubiak’s offense will continue putting Gay in a position to convert his kicks.
That wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation. Las Vegas has plenty of playmakers, as Bowers is one of the league’s best tight ends and Ashton Jeanty has an impressive pedigree as the 2024 Heisman Trophy runner-up and 2025 sixth overall pick. Although Jeanty has been disappointing this season, especially as a runner, there’s a reasonable expectation that he could improve, and fourth-round rookie Mike Washington Jr. has been a solid change-of-pace option. Kubiak has a significant track record as an offensive-minded genius; last season, his Seattle Seahawks produced the third-most points and eighth-most yards en route to a Super Bowl title, and Kubiak’s schemes helped wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba win Offensive Player of the Year. For what it’s worth, the Raiders have made the red zone the fourth-most times but only scored a touchdown on such trips at the 12th-lowest rate.
The Raiders have a difficult matchup this week against the Rams, but that could actually work in Gay’s favor. Despite its 2-4 record, Los Angeles has only given up the third-fewest yards, but it has tied for the third-most field goals made because it allows opponents to drive near the edge of the red zone before stopping them there. Opponents have reached the red zone the eighth-most times against the Rams, but they’ve converted at the seventh-lowest rate. In Los Angeles’ Week 6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, kicker Chad Ryland made six field goals, including a 43-yard winner as time expired. Gay could reasonably put up a similar performance.
