Who Should I Start? Matt Gay or Riley Patterson

Thursday, April 10, 1:08 PM

The Indianapolis Colts released kicker Matt Gay on Thursday, just two seasons after signing him to a big free-agent deal, according to The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov. In his time with the Colts, Gay went 64-for-78 on his field-goal attempts (11-for-22 from 50-plus yards) and made 68 of his 69 extra-point attempts in 33 games. The 31-year-old signed a four-year, $22.5 million deal with Indy before the 2023 season. Gay made 31 of his 37 field-goal tries in 16 regular-season games last year, including only three of his nine attempts from 50-plus yards. While he was pretty consistent in his time with the Colts, it appears his success rate from long range wasn't good enough to keep him around. Spencer Shrader is currently the kicker on the team's roster, but they'll likely add competition for him heading into training camp this summer.

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.