Who Should I Start? Brandon McManus or Rodrigo Blankenship

Monday, March 11, 11:22 PM

Free-agent kicker Brandon McManus agreed to a one-year, $3.6 million contract with Washington on Monday night. The 32-year-old spent his first nine seasons in Denver before landing in Jacksonville for the 2023-24 campaign. He had one of the best seasons of his career, connecting on 30 of his 37 field goal tries while nailing all 35 extra-point attempts. McManus finished last season a borderline top-10 fantasy kicker, so there's no reason to believe he can't come close to matching that level of production. However, there will be plenty of better kickers ahead of him in pre-draft rankings heading into Week 1. Either way, the veteran will likely find his way onto most fantasy rosters.

Monday, August 21, 6:14 PM

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers waived kicker Rodrigo Blankenship on Monday. Blankenship lost the kicking battle to Chase McLaughlin in training camp this summer and will now look to latch on with another team before the start of the 2023 regular season. The 26-year-old spent last year with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, going 4-for-5 on his field-goal tries and 4-for-5 on extra points in just three total games. As long as Tampa doesn't bring in more competition for McLaughlin to close out the preseason, he should enter Week 1 as the team's starting kicker. McLaughlin, 27, made 83.3 percent of his 36 field-goal attempts and made all 21 of his extra-point tries in 16 games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022. The kicking position in Tampa won't be as exciting in fantasy now that Tom Brady isn't running the offense in 2023.