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.

Monday, December 1, 9:23 PM

San Francisco 49ers kicker Eddy Pineiro (hamstring) is expected to return to action following the team's bye in Week 14. Pineiro has missed each of the last two games due to a hamstring issue. Luckily, head coach Kyle Shanahan believes Pineiro will be ready to play against the Tennessee Titans in Week 15. Pineiro has been a great addition to the 49ers roster this season. The 30-year-old has made all 22 of his field-goal attempts while connecting on 18 of 22 extra-point kicks. Matt Gay has been kicking for the 49ers over the last two games, but his services will likely no longer be needed once Pineiro returns.