Browns kicking situation: Dustin Hopkins the only option?

Last year, the NFL season did not go the way the Cleveland Browns drew it up on paper. After winning 11 games in 2023 and making the postseason, hopes were really high. Sadly, the bottom fell out in reverse order as the Browns lost 14 games.

There were many bright spots in 2023. The offensive line was ranked #3. QB Joe Flacco had four 300-yard games and went 4-2 in the regular season. Myles Garrett won his very first Defensive Player of the Year award. Kevin Stefanksi took home his second Coach of the Year nod while DC Jim Schwartz won the Assistant Coach of the Year trophy.

Not only were these examples, but the kicking game was outstanding. Kicker Dustin Hopkins was having a Pro Bowl season and won numerous games with his leg. He then had the misfortune of suffering a hamstring injury while attempting a tackle on a kickoff return in Week 16 against the Houston Texans, a 36-22 victory.

Up until that point, Hopkins had made 33 field goals out of 36 attempts (91.7%) and 24 of 26 PATs (92.3%).

He finished the season ranked 11^th in field goal percentage, tied for fifth in the number of field goals made, and was 8-8 in field goals converted of 50-plus yards. Hopkins had a long of 58 yards, which was the league’s fifth-longest field goal ruled good that season.

In Week 5 against the undefeated San Francisco 49ers, Hopkins hit four of five field goals in the 19-17 upset, including a 50-yarder. The following week, he nailed 4-4 during an intense 39-38 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in which he converted from 44, 54, 54, and 58 yards. Yes, three kicks of 50+ yards in a single game.

The big question was, why wasn’t Hopkins voted to the Pro Bowl that year?

The AFC was represented by Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens, while the NFC selected Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers. Tucker had an 86.5% conversion of field goals, going 32-27, while Myers boasted an 83.3% success rate, missing seven field goals. Obviously, both kickers voted to the All-Star game were below Hopkins’ success rate and missed a lot more kicks than Hopkins.

So, that was a big mystery when the Pro Bowl rosters were announced.

Hopkins came to the Browns on a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers when they had Hopkins and Cameron Dicker in camp competing for the starting kicker job. When they decided on the much younger Dicker, Browns GM Andrew Berry reached out to the Chargers and worked out a deal before the veteran Hopkins hit the waiver wire.

And in his first season with Cleveland, he absolutely shone.

Fast forward to 2024. Normally, Berry brings in an additional long snapper, punter, and kicker to compete in training camp. This provides competition and helps to build Berry’s free agent list in the event he needs to bring in a new guy in case of injury. Last year, however, Berry only signed kicker Cade York but did not bring in extra bodies at all for the other two positions. In fact, Berry inked Hopkins to a three-year contract extension, showing the veteran that he had complete faith in his ability to keep making threes from long distances, along with spot-on kickoffs.

York ended up a final cutdown casualty and was then added to the practice squad.

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The first points of the 2024 season were a 51-yard field goal by Hopkins against the Dallas Cowboys on opening day. The final point in that game was a Hopkins extra point in the 33-17 home loss.

But while he began the 2023 season in grand style, missing only two field goals in the first seven weeks, the following season was not kind to Hopkins.

The Browns had a bad streak, losing five in a row and two out of the first 10 games. Hopkins began the year going 4-4 in the first two games, and it appeared he was at his prime endeavor as he always had been. But then he missed his only attempt in Week 3. Two weeks later, he missed another. The wheels began to fall off in Week 6 against the eventual Super Bowl champs Philadelphia Eagles when Hopkins missed another field goal attempt as the Browns lost by only four points.

The next game was another miss. Two games after that, he went 1-2 and then 0-2 in the following contest. In Weeks 12 and 13, he went a combined 1-4. The pair of field goals he missed against the Pittsburgh Steelers got him benched the following week. Cleveland signed journeyman Riley Patterson to come in for one game, and then signed him to the practice squad as the emergency kicker.

Hopkins finished the 2024 season going 18 conversions on 27 attempts (66.7%), 17-20 on PATs (85.0%), and 4-8 of kicks of 50+ yards.

He was ranked the #29 kicker in the league.

During the off-season, Berry has released longtime long snapper Charley Hughlett and signed UFL standout kicker and former All-American and Groza Award winner Andre Szmyt to compete this year in training camp to address the situation.

Are the Browns set on using Hopkins going forward? Will the coaches continue to be willing to stand by him?

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In the 2024 UFL season, while a member of the St. Louis Battlehawks, Szmyt led the league as he went 19-21 (90.0%) on field goal attempts and had a long of 61 yards. The second-ranked kicker was Jake Bates of the Michigan Panthers, who signed with the Detroit Lions and remained their kicker.

Hopkins gives the Browns a veteran leg who has great accuracy on kickoff drops. In his first season with Cleveland, he was money on kicks of 50+. This was such an advantage instead of bringing out the punt team or having to go for it on fourth down around the opponent’s 40-yard line.

He handled his struggles from last year in a professional manner. Kickers prefer to never alter any aspect of their game as they want to take the same number of steps, begin with a familiar angle, take the same approach, and strike it exactly the same every time they kick. As long as the holder is able to spin the laces forward before the strike, for a kicker, the same approach is his standard.

The odd portion of Hopkins’ disastrous season from last year was the fact that he was always money on long kicks, and it was his calling card. In 2023, not only was he a perfect 8-8 on kicks of 50-plus, but he went 7-7 from 30-39 yards and 8-8 in the 20–29-yard distance. His only problem area was from 40-49 yards, where he converted 10 of 13 kicks.

In 2024, however, Hopkins was all over the map: 20-29 yards: 3-4; 30-39: 6-7; 40-49: 5-8; and 50-59: 4-8. Hopkins missed a career-high nine field goals last season. No full-time kicker on any NFL team converts 66.7% of field goals and still draws a paycheck every two weeks.

Except Hopkins.

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The blame is certainly not on his holder, punter Corey Bojorquez, who is known for owning one of the best hands in the league.

Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone did come out and state he has complete confidence in Hopkins bouncing back during this year’s training camp.

Coach Ventrone told Sports Illustrated when asked:

“I think he’s doing everything he can to get it right. Has hit the ball well. But have a lot of confidence in him moving forward and being our kicker. Obviously, (it was) an inconsistent season for him.”

Okay, saying all the right things. But is Hopkins the team’s primary kicker for the future?

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Szmyt, age 26, was a fifth-year senior at Syracuse because of the pandemic. He went 20 for 26 in his final year (76.9%) and converted 85 of 105 attempts (81.0%) for his college career. He scored 454 points.

He won the Groza Award and the Vlade Award, given out to the nation’s most accurate place kicker. Szmyt was also named Unanimous All-American, First Team All-ACC, and Third Team All-ACC in 2019.

Like most kickers, Szmyt went undrafted. After the 2023 NFL draft, he then signed with the Chicago Bears, who cut him towards the end of training camp when he could not beat out Cairo Santos. Szmyt then spent the spring season with the Battlehawks and led the league in kicking categories. At the conclusion of their 2024 season, Berry signed him to a reserve/futures contract to compete with Hopkins in this year’s camp.

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Hopkins will turn 35 in October. The three-year, $15.9 million extension he signed in early 2024 just might make it difficult for the Browns to move on from him if he doesn’t do well in training camp. His dead cap hit this year is $5.67 million, which is considerable. Meanwhile, Szmyt is on a one-year $840,000 deal.

It was thought that perhaps Berry might draft a kicker in the later rounds of this year’s draft, with four selections in Round 6 alone. But that notion was eliminated when he traded away all of the Browns’ sixth and seventh-round picks.

In this year’s camp, the main focus for anyone in attendance will be whatever the quarterbacks are doing. The four that Cleveland has in camp this year will be on everybody’s social media platform and dominate the sports shows and podcasts.

But if you go to any Browns practice sessions and have a moment, glance over at the kickers. See if you can decipher who the Browns will keep going forward.