Who Should I Start? Younghoe Koo or Spencer Shrader

Wednesday, December 18, 1:04 PM

The Atlanta Falcons are placing kicker Younghoe Koo (undisclosed) on Injured Reserve on Wednesday, according to a source. In a corresponding move, the Falcons have signed kicker Riley Patterson off the Cleveland Browns practice squad and onto their 53-man active roster. Koo is now out for the rest of the season and would be unavailable to kick in the wild-card round of the playoffs if the Falcons get into the postseason. The 30-year-old suffered an undisclosed injury in the Monday night win over the Las Vegas Raiders and will now go on the shelf. Normally a very reliable kicker, Koo struggled with accuracy in 2024, making 25 of his 34 field-goal attempts, although he made all 26 of his extra points. Patterson will now fill in heading into a Week 16 contest against the New York Giants. With rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. making his first career start, fantasy managers will want to steer clear of Patterson.

Tuesday, May 6, 3:51 PM

According to James Boyd of The Athletic, Spencer Shrader is the favorite to win the team's starting placekicking duties for 2025. Last season, Shrader kicked for the Colts in Week 1 due to an injury to Matt Gay. The Colts released Gay this offseason and brought Shrader back. He will compete with undrafted free-agent kicker Maddux Trujillo out of Temple, but it is "his job to lose." Shrader went undrafted last offseason out of Notre Dame and kicked in one game for the Colts, one game for the New York Jets, and two games for the Kansas City Chiefs. Overall, he made all five of his field goal attempts and was a perfect nine-for-nine on extra point tries. Gay attempted the seventh-most field goals last season for Indy, so Shrader could find his way on the fantasy football radar in 2025.