Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Ka'imi Fairbairn

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, November 1, 5:59 AM

Houston Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn has been a starting kicker for fantasy teams for most of the season, but there may be a better option available this week. He has converted 17 of his 19 field goal attempts this season, with both misses from beyond 50 yards. He has made five field goals of more than 50 yards as well, though, and has also converted all 12 of his extra-point attempts. Fairbairn was a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra points last week against the 49ers, but this week, he's facing the Broncos in Houston. In that difficult matchup, he's only the No. 16 kicker in RotoBaller's rankings this week. He's still startable, for sure, but check what the alternatives are as well.