Who Should I Start? Jake Moody or Riley Patterson

Wednesday, April 2, 1:20 PM

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week that the team plans to bring in a veteran kicker "who's capable of taking that job" to compete with Jake Moody this offseason. The 49ers would love to see Moody win the competition and come out motivated for a strong season in 2025 after struggling through a high-ankle sprain in 2024. The 25-year-old made just 70.6 percent of his 34 field-goal attempts in 14 games (4-for-9 from 50-plus yards) in his second year in the NFL after making 84 percent of his 25 field-goal tries in his rookie year. The former third-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft out of the University of Michigan certainly has the skills to bounce back in 2025 if he's healthy, and if he does, he should be in play as a top-12 fantasy kicker.

Saturday, January 4, 9:52 PM

Atlanta Falcons kicker Riley Patterson is a solid fantasy option this weekend in his team's divisional clash with the visiting Carolina Panthers. The 25-year-old has been fine since taking over the Falcons kicking job for an injured Younghoe Koo (hip). In four appearances this season, Patterson has been automatic on his 11 XP attempts but has missed a field goal try in each of his last two games. He'll get a dream outing in Week 18 against a Panthers defense that's allowed the most points per game in the league (31) and the most fantasy points per game to the kicking position (10.5). The Falcons bolster a 28-point implied point total for the contest, so the Memphis product projects to be afforded a few chances to get on the board against one of the league's worst defenses. Patterson ranks as RotoBaller's K10 ahead of this weekend's slate of action.