Who Should I Start? Anders Carlson or Spencer Shrader

Tuesday, August 27, 5:32 PM

The Green Bay Packers released second-year kicker Anders Carlson on Tuesday, according to a source. Carlson has lost the competition for the starting kicking job in Green Bay heading into Week 1 of the regular season. Veteran Greg Joseph is now competing with Alex Hale, but Joseph is the clear front-runner for the job, especially now that Carlson is out of the picture. The 26-year-old Carlson, a sixth-round selection last year out of Auburn, had an abysmal rookie campaign with the Packers, making only 81.8% of his 33 field-goal attempts during the regular season and also missing five of his 39 extra-point tries in 17 starts. The younger brother of Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson will now be looking for work elsewhere in just his second NFL season. In leagues with kickers in play, fantasy managers should be able to find better options than Joseph.

Saturday, September 7, 1:25 PM

The Indianapolis Colts elevated rookie kicker Spencer Shrader and cornerback Chris Lammons from the practice squad to the active 53-man roster on Saturday in advance of the Week 1 regular-season opener on Sunday against the division-rival Houston Texans. This is a clear sign that starting kicker Matt Gay (hernia), who is listed as questionable for Week 1, will end up being inactive on Sunday morning after he recently underwent surgery for a sports hernia. Gay is questionable to kick on Sunday, but he missed practice all week and is probably more doubtful than anything. Fantasy managers that were planning to use Gay in Week 1 should have already been looking for other options this weekend. Rolling with Shrader in his first NFL game would be unwise given all the other options available on the waiver wire.