CLEVELAND, Ohio — Dustin Hopkins is the first to admit that he’s glad 2024 is over.
However, after Saturday’s preseason finale against the Rams, a 19-17 Cleveland win, Browns fans might be wondering if Hopkins’ struggles are truly behind their kicker.
Coming off a career-worst and anomaly season in 2024, the 11-year vet hasn’t exactly righted the ship.
On Saturday in the preseason finale against the Rams, Hopkins began the afternoon by making an extra=point attempt in the first quarter and a 28-yard field goal in the second.
But with only 17 seconds remaining in the half, Hopkins sailed a PAT wide left towards the closed end of the stadium.
So what happened?
“Honestly, I didn’t like the shorter one I made — the field goal,” Hopkins told cleveland.com. “I didn’t love the way I contacted the ball. So on the next kick, I was like, hey, I’m committing to contacting the ball and I’m gonna live with whatever the results are. And I contacted really well, but my leg lock was a little early and great contact, but just poor direction.”
Hopkins has tried not to be too focused on results. If you are as a kicker, it can be maddening. It’s a position where overthinking can quickly lead to spiraling.
But coming off of a season in which he made only 18 of 27 field goal attempts (a career-worst 66.7% mark) and also missed three extra-point attempts (17 of 20), it’s fair to wonder if the results need to matter more for everyone.
Do the Browns have a kicking problem on their hands, with cutdown day on Tuesday?
Head coach Kevin Stefanski wasn’t exactly forthcoming when asked that question after game.
“Yeah, all those type of decisions, we’ll talk about,” he said.
The plan coming into Saturday’s preseason finale was for Hopkins to kick the first half and Andre Szmyt to kick in the second half.
Szmyt (6-0, 200) is officially in his first NFL season out of Syracuse. Originally signed by the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2023, Szmyt spent part of the 2024 season on the Browns’ practice squad and was a member of the St. Louis Battlehawks of the UFL.
Cleveland Browns vs. Los Angeles Rams in preseason game
Cleveland Browns vs. Los Angeles Rams in preseason game
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Cleveland Browns vs. Los Angeles Rams in preseason game, August 23, 2025
In Szmyt’s one chance to kick in this game, he delivered, nailing a 37-yard field goal as time expired to win the game.
“Just stick to my process,” Szmyt said. “I mean, I’ve been there before and luckily it was a great snap by (long snapper) Rex (Sunahara), good hold by (punter) Corey (Bojorquez), and made my job easy. ”
Officially for the 2025 preseason, Hopkins made all three of his field goal attempts, but just four of six extra points. One of those extra-point makes in Carolina in Week 1 was so close, it had fans on social media wondering if the refs actually made a mistake.
Szmyt ends the preseason having made all three of his field goal attempts and his lone extra-point attempt in Philadelphia last week.
Does he think it’s enough for the Browns to keep him around in some capacity?
“Yeah, I hope so,” he said. “I just put my best foot forward and then whatever happens, it’s meant to be that way. So just kind of do the best I can and then leave it up to the people who make those decisions.”
The problem for the Browns is Szmyt is an unknown entity when it comes to the regular season, as he’s never even kicked in a regular-season game.
Compare that to Hopkins, who has a decade worth of stats, and had an amazing 2023 — one that the Browns might actually be too bought into, two years later.
Consider his career regular-season numbers, both total and on 50-plus-yard kicks:
2015: 26 of 29 (89.7%) and 2 of 4 from 50-plus.
2016: 34 of 42 (81%) and 3 of 7 from 50-plus.
2017: 14 of 17 (82.4%) and 0 of 2 from 50-plus.
2018: 26 of 29 (89.7%) and 4 of 5 from 50-plus.
2019: 25 of 30 (83.3%) and 2 of 3 from 50-plus.
2020: 28 of 35 (80%) and 2 of 4 from 50-plus.
2021: 30 of 34 (88.2%) and 2 of 5 from 50-plus.
2022: (a shortened season for him due to a hamstring injury) 9 of 10 (90%) and 0 attempts from 50-plus.
2023: 33 of 36 (91.7%) and 8 of 8 from 50-plus
2024: 18 of 27 (66.7%) and 4 of 8 from 50-plus.
For his career, Hopkins averages out to an 84.1% kicker, as opposed to what we saw last season.
“I was glad that year ended,” Hopkins said of 2024. “So I feel like yeah, I’m excited to start a clean slate and that’s where I’m at. I think, like I said, I feel good. Feel like mentally I’m in my spot. And when a year like that’s happening as an individual and a team, it’s like, man, can’t wait till this is over. ”
And while he’s had those extra-point misses, Hopkins has been overall hitting the ball well in practices this offseason and training camp, he says.
“I’ve hit the ball really well,” he said. “It’s a weird feeling because I try not to be results oriented. Even though, obviously, we always have to produce. It’s part of this game. But even though there’s a play I’d take back today, or I guess two, they hit a touchback when I didn’t want to earlier (in the first half).
“But still, I feel like, process wise, I really like a lot of things too. And I know from the outside looking in, it’s like, what are you talking about? So that’s where I’m at. ”
And despite Stefanski’s evasive answer on Saturday, and one last week in which he wouldn’t directly commit to him as the Week 1 kicker, through the storm this team has largely stood by Hopkins. Most kickers wouldn’t have survived the kind of year he did and live to tell the tale, still in the same uniform.
“Everybody in this building regardless of anything, I’ve got so much respect for the people in this building,” Hopkins said. “I’m thankful to work with the people I work with. Let me say it that way. It’s just like I’m surrounded by a lot of people that I’m thankful for. So it makes coming into work on good and bad days a lot easier.”
Will the Browns continue to show grace and bet on his lengthy history? Or has the last year simply been too much?
Even if no one within the Browns will admit it, they don’t have an esy choice ahead of them.
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