Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Eddy Piñeiro

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, October 11, 6:31 AM

San Francisco 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro nailed his second game-winning kick in three weeks in Week 5. Pineiro's 59-yarder, a new career-best, sealed the 49ers' 26-23 win over the Rams in overtime. He also converted two extra points and hit three other field goals in regulation from 20, 37, and 41 yards out, making him a perfect 11-for-11 on field goal attempts so far this season. After his big game on Thursday, Pineiro ranks second among kickers in fantasy points per game. San Francisco's matchup against Tampa Bay carries one of the higher implied totals on the Week 6 slate, which means Pineiro can be expected to see his fair share of opportunities to get points on the board. He is a good streaming option for Week 6.