Who Should I Start? Dustin Hopkins or Rodrigo Blankenship

Saturday, May 25, 11:11 AM

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said that kicker Dustin Hopkins (hamstring) has recovered from the torn hamstring that he suffered on Christmas Eve last year against the Houston Texans that sidelined him for the rest of the season and the playoff loss. Despite being recovered from the injury, Hopkins was a notable absence during organized team activities this week. The Browns also have kickers Cade York and Lucas Havrisik on the current roster, but barring injury, the 33-year-old Hopkins figures to be the team's starting kicker in Week 1 of the 2024 regular season. Despite missing the final two games of the regular season last year, Hopkins finished as the No. 12 fantasy kicker by making 33 of his 36 field goal-attempts and 24 of his 26 extra-point tries. He'll be a fringe fantasy kicker in drafts this fall.

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.