BEREA, Ohio -- The Browns aren’t giving their young kicker the boot.
Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday that first-year kicker Andre Szmyt will kick for the Browns Sunday in Baltimore when the two AFC North foes will try to avoid going 0-2.
“A young player who will only get better,” Stefanski said. “Obviously he wants to come through in those moments. We expect him to come through in those moments, but just like any player on our roster, he’ll continue to get better.”
Szmyt sailed two of his four kicks wide right in the second half of Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Bengals, a missed extra point after Cedric Tillman’s 5-yard TD catch, and a 36-yard potential gamewinner with 2:22 left in the game.
“We expect him to do his job,” Stefanski said before practice. “He’s a young player and we expect him to get better. We’re not going to be perfect. We have a ton of confidence because of what we’ve seen from this young man.”
The Browns opted not to try out any kickers on Tuesday, and may or may not claim waived 49ers kicker Jake Moody later today. It didn’t sound yesterday like they will.
“We expect Andre to do his job just like our team expects me to do my job, how I expect every player to do their job,” Stefanski said. “We’re not going to be perfect. We will own that together, but we have a ton of confidence because of what we’ve seen from this young man.”
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