Who Should I Start? Eddy Pineiro or Chad Ryland

Saturday, August 24, 6:51 PM

Carolina Panthers kicker Eddy Pineiro (hamstring) didn't return for the second half of Saturday's preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills. Pineiro was forced to exit the game due to mild hamstring soreness. Head coach Dave Canales said afterwards that Pineiro is fine and the team held him out for precautionary reasons. Before exiting, Pineiro made both his extra-point attempts and a 45-yard field goal during the first half of Saturday's game. The assumption is that Pineiro should be fine for the regular season opener against the New Orleans Saints.

Tuesday, August 27, 8:31 PM

The New England Patriots released kicker Chad Ryland on Tuesday, according to a source. Ryland has officially lost the starting kicking competition in New England to Joey Slye and will now be looking for work elsewhere. The 24-year-old was the Patriots' starting kicker in 2023 after being drafted in the fourth round out of Maryland. He made just 64% of his 25 field-goal attempts in his rookie season while making 24 of his 25 extra-point tries for a bad offense. Ryland could end up rejoining the team's practice squad, but he's obviously not even close to being fantasy relevant. Slye, 28, made 79.2% of his 24 field-goal attempts for the Washington Commanders in 17 games last year, missing three of his 35 extra-point tries. Fantasy managers should avoid Slye in pretty much all formats in 2024.