Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Cairo Santos

Tuesday, August 26, 3:18 PM

The Cleveland Brown released kicker Dustin Hopkin on Tuesday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. It appears that Andre Szmyt will open the 2025 regular season as the team's placekicker, although the Browns could still bring in more competition before Week 1. Hopkins will be let go after spending the last two seasons kicking for Cleveland, where he went 51-for-63 on his field-goal attempts (81%) and 41-for-46 on his extra-point tries in 31 total games. The final straw for the 34-year-old veteran might have been when he missed one of his two extra-point tries in the preseason finale on Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams. Hopkins entered training camp on shaky ground at the position after going 18-for-27 on his field goals in 16 games a year ago.

Saturday, November 1, 10:31 AM

Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos returned from a multi-game absence last week. He immediately made an impact in his first game back, converting his lone extra point attempt while going 3-for-4 on field goals, including one from 40+ yards out. The 33-year-old has always been a solid kicker, and his productivity has improved this season as the Bears show more signs of life on offense. This week, Santos will take on the Cincinnati Bengals in a potentially close game that should feature high scoring. Cincinnati ranks near the middle of the league in terms of fantasy points allowed to kickers, giving Santos a chance to carve out a fantasy-revelant showing. He's on the border of the fantasy radar right now, ranking as the overall K13 in Week 9, according to RotoBaller's experts.