Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Jude McAtamney

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.

Tuesday, October 7, 10:55 PM

New York Giants kicker Jude McAtamney is a risky option in Week 6, offering a low floor for the Thursday night matchup against the Eagles. In his two starts this season, the international kicker has scored nine fantasy points, making 2 of 2 field goals (long of 31 yards) and 3 of 3 extra points, but he failed to register a single field goal attempt in Week 5. The Giants' implied total for this game is one of the lowest of the week, and the Philadelphia defense ranks 30th in fantasy points allowed to kickers (11.4 FPTS/G), which suggests the Eagles are an ideal opponent to generate scoring opportunities. Despite his perfect 100% field goal percentage this season, the Giants' struggling offense will likely keep McAtameny's attempts down, making him a bench option until the offense proves capable of moving the ball reliably.