Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Rodrigo Blankenship

Thursday, January 11, 3:00 PM

Cleveland Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins (hamstring) has officially been ruled out for Saturday's wild-card playoff game against the Houston Texans after missing practice all week. Hopkins will miss his third straight game due to his hamstring injury. Riley Patterson, who has served as Cleveland's kicker the last two games with Hopkins out, will likely be elevated from the practice squad to the 53-man active roster for Saturday's playoff contest. The 24-year-old was the Detroit Lions' primary kicker for 13 games this year before getting cut and latching on with the Browns. In 15 total games between both teams this year, he's gone 16-for-18 on field-goal tries and has miss three of his 44 extra-point attempts. Fantasy managers should be looking for better options at the position on wild-card weekend.

Monday, August 21, 6:14 PM

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers waived kicker Rodrigo Blankenship on Monday. Blankenship lost the kicking battle to Chase McLaughlin in training camp this summer and will now look to latch on with another team before the start of the 2023 regular season. The 26-year-old spent last year with the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals, going 4-for-5 on his field-goal tries and 4-for-5 on extra points in just three total games. As long as Tampa doesn't bring in more competition for McLaughlin to close out the preseason, he should enter Week 1 as the team's starting kicker. McLaughlin, 27, made 83.3 percent of his 36 field-goal attempts and made all 21 of his extra-point tries in 16 games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022. The kicking position in Tampa won't be as exciting in fantasy now that Tom Brady isn't running the offense in 2023.