The NFL week is less than 24 hours away! Here are those brand new Week 8 kicker rankings ahead of Thursday and the weekend.

Fantasy on SI knows this bye week takes a half dozen choices off the board but there seem to always be options lurking. Also, there may be traps.

So, maybe several of the top kickers are taken already. That’s okay. We got you covered.

Again, it almost does not matter who is the Kicker for the Indianapolis Colts now. Spencer Shrader tears his ACL then Michael Badgley steps right up. Badgley has only averaged 6.5 points per week. On the other hand, the Colts play the Tennessee Titans this week. Tennessee allowed 41 points in Week 3 at home to this same Colts team.

That breaks down to two field goals and five extra points. Even chip shot field goals would net a kicker 11 points there. Badgley is going to have one of the higher projections because the injury situation keeps getting worse for Tennessee. Also, the defense is one of the worst in the league against the run. Indianapolis loves to use the run with the pass in a balanced manner.

The thought process is that Badgley should get a few more chances to kick field goals this week. Tennessee is 12th in red zone defense but will allow kickers to get their points. Last week was a bit of an exception but more weeks than not have seen double digit points or projections.

Badgley is out there in most leagues. I went through at least four or five of my fantasy football leagues this week and found him available.

The problem here was a coin flip between him and Evan McPherson. McPherson has a favorable matchup and so does Reichard. The Jets have allowed 2+ field goals to kickers in six of their seven games. Guess what? The Los Angeles Chargers have done the exact same thing.

Reichard stands eighth among fantasy kickers in total points for the NFL season. He is averaging 9.8 points per week. Also, the Chargers only yielded 13 touchdowns on 26 attempts in the red zone. That means an increased opportunity for field goals. Given that Carson Wentz and the Vikings move the ball well, there may be a chance to again break the 10-point plateau.

As we mentioned above, McPherson is a solid choice but Reichard is a more consistent one. That is what it comes down even with Reichard playing on Thursday night. Basically, one must act quickly.

There is considerable risk and reward here. The risk is that Cairo Santos starts this weekend. Santos, as of press time, has not practiced. His thigh injury has kept him out the past couple of weeks. Moody goes up against a Baltimore team that has given up 3+ field goals in three of their past six games. More importantly, the Bears offense in the red zone only converts half the time (10-for-20).

Now, the pitfall err risk is that Santos heals up and kicks on Sunday. Santos was limited at practice.

Moody is 3% owned in a few leagues and less in others. He has the leg and proved it while booming 70 yard kicks in warmups last week. Three of his eight field goals have been of the long-distance variety. Like Lucas Havrisik, one has to wait on the injury front. By the way, Brandon McManus (quad) is expected to practice Thursday. Likely, he will be considered limited.

This makes for a lot of fun debates around the fantasy football water cooler.