Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Joshua Karty

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, 7:31 PM

The Los Angeles Rams signed kicker Joshua Karty back to their practice squad on Monday, according to Adam Grosbard of the Los Angeles Daily News. Karty was waived last Friday by the Rams after being benched for rookie Harrison Mevis, but the 23-year-old will now return to the practice squad as an insurance option for now. In his second year in the NFL, Karty has struggled, going 10-for-15 on his field-goal tries and 23-for-26 on his extra-point opportunities through eight games. Mevis, meanwhile, has gone a perfect 2-for-2 on field goals and 17-for-17 on extra points with the Rams in his first four games. The 23-year-old has been money so far and has jumped onto the fantasy radar quickly at the kicking position because of the high-octane offense in L.A., but they don't often have to settle for field goals, which also limits his upside.