Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Jake Elliott

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.

Thursday, September 4, 12:26 PM

Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott gets his season underway on Thursday in a division rivalry matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. In two meetings against Dallas last season, Elliott was perfect from the spot, making all four of his field goal attempts and going nine-for-nine on extra points. He did struggle on attempts from beyond 50 yards in 2024, making just one out of seven tries, but was one of the best in the league from 40-49 yards, going eight-of-nine from that range. The Cowboys also let up the second most points per game last season (27.5), and with Philly's high-powered offense it seems likely they'll put a good amount of points on the board. Elliott should be a starting kicker in fantasy lineups for Week 1.