Who Should I Start? Ramiz Ahmed or Anders Carlson

Saturday, August 10, 7:37 PM

Washington Commanders kicker Ramiz Ahmed went 1-for-1 on his field goal attempts and 2-for-2 on his extra-point attempts on Saturday afternoon. His field goal attempt came from 40 yards out. This is important to note because Riley Patterson missed his lone field goal try from 39 yards out. Brandon McManus was originally brought in during free agency to serve as the starting kicker in D.C. but was let go in June due to being involved with a civil lawsuit. As a result, this opened up a competition between Ahmed and Patterson, and after the team's first preseason game, Ahmed may be in the lead. Patterson does have more experience in the NFL and has gone 59-for-67 throughout the first four seasons of his career. Ahmed made only one NFL appearance back in 2022 with the Green Bay Packers and moved on to play for the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL last spring. Fantasy managers should continue to monitor this competition as the winner could be fantasy-relevant, especially if rookie Jayden Daniels is able to adjust to the NFL fairly quickly and move the Washington offense downfield on a consistent basis.

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.