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PK Rian Lindell, Buffalo Bills
HT: 6-3, WT: 235, Born: 1-20-1977, College: Washington State, Drafted: ---
2008 Projections
Best Case
Lindell has quietly evolved into a solid placekicker the last three years. He finished 2005 with 29 of 35 on field goals (82.9%), in 2006 he made 23 of 25 field goals (92.0%), and in 2007 he went 24 of 27 (88.9%). Perhaps most importantly, he has shown that he has the range for longer field goals. Following the 2004 season, it was widely publicized that the Bills did not have any confidence in Lindell's ability to make long kicks, and that his job was in jeopardy. In the last three years he has gone 19 of 26 from 40 to 49 yards, and 7 of 8 from 50+ yards. At the other end of the distance spectrum, Lindell has never missed a PAT in his eight years in the NFL. If Lindell can continue with his accuracy and the offense can actually get him some more PATs to pad his scoring, he could return to being a viable fantasy option.
Worst Case
: If the offense performs as it did last year, then Lindell will remain near the bottom of the kicker rankings. Last year Buffalo was 28th in kicker scoring. While field goals are obviously more lucrative for kicking totals, the 24 PATs didn't help matters. Only Kansas City and San Francisco scored fewer PATs than the Bills. Of the extra points that Lindell scored, most came at home. Only four were on the road. Many of Lindell's field goal opportunities last year came in just a few games scattered throughout the season. He had four games with no field goal attempts, and five games with just one attempt in each.
Outlook
The team enters its third year under head coach Dick Jauron, who has never been around plentiful kicking points. The Bills ranked 20th and 28th in kicker scoring during his first two years. During his five years in charge of the Bears, their average kicker scoring ranking was 21st. This year the offense will be guided by Turk Schonert who was promoted to offensive coordinator. He takes over a young offense that provided Lindell very few scoring opportunities last year, ranking 29th in kicking points attempted. Lindell appears to have quelled concerns over his long range field goal attempts. Last year he had one of his better years on kickoffs, averaging 61.9 yards with six touchbacks. While Lindell has proven to be reliable, odds are he won't get many chances to demonstrate that again this year.
