Cleveland Browns Stadium is the Bermuda Triangle for kickers. It is the place where careers crash and burn for players whose only job is to kick a football between yellow uprights 18 feet, 6 inches apart.
Dustin Hopkins, the kicker the Browns acquired from the Los Angeles Chargers on Aug. 28 for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick, is in his 11th season. He kicked for the Washington Redskins/Commanders before kicking for the Chargers the last 1 1/2 seasons.
Hopkins has played in Cleveland only once. He made two of three extra point attempts and did not attempt a field goal on Sept. 27, 2020, when the Browns beat the Washington Football Team, 34-20.
Pro football can be frustrating, “especially for kickers,” says Dustin Hopkins. The Browns are the fifth team the 11-year veteran has been with. pic.twitter.com/Vgfazf0vJt
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) August 30, 2023
But kickers talk to each other all of the time. They are their own fraternity. So Hopkins knows the reputation Cleveland Browns Stadium has.
“The location, obviously this is a notorious place to kick,” Hopkins said after practice Aug. 30 in Berea. “It’s a tough place to do this job.
“They’re on the lake. You’re up north. You’re in a tough division. There’s nothing blocking the wind coming off the lake. When it seems like it’s going to move the ball, it doesn’t; when it doesn’t seem like it’s going to move the ball, it does. So I’ve got a lot to learn in that stadium, but I’m up for the challenge.”
#Browns receivers through a concentration drill Wednesday before team practice in Berea. pic.twitter.com/C6tFU8lNHb
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) August 30, 2023
The Browns plan to practice at the stadium on Aug. 31 instead of practicing in Berea as they normally do. The season opener Sept. 10 against the Bengals at home is getting closer.
“It felt like it’d be helpful for all of our guys just to get one more run down there,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “I think it helps now with Dustin. He’ll obviously spend more time down there, not just tomorrow, but I think it just helps for some of the newer guys and all of us just to get the confines looked at one more time before we get down there on the 10th.”
The Browns decided to acquire Hopkins after giving up on 2022 fourth-round pick Cade York. York signed with the Titans on Aug. 30 to be on their practice squad. One day after the Browns traded the Chargers a seventh-round pick for Hopkins, the Titans traded a seventh-round pick to the Patriots for veteran kicker Nick Folk. The Browns host the Titans on Sept. 24.
York missed five kicks in the 2023 preseason, He had his troubles kicking in Cleveland last season. He made only 10 of 16 kicks at home but 14 of 16 on the road.
York and Hopkins are brothers in that kicking fraternity. Hopkins said they worked together for two days in the summer.
“We’ve trained at the same place,” Hopkins said. “I don’t know if he has another kicking coach, but we at least have one kicking coach that we have in common. He’s a super-talented kicker. I mean, his leg strength is tough to argue against.
“He’ll be fine. This whole game can be frustrating sometimes at any position, but especially kicking. You get to the right spot and everything works out and you get to a wrong spot and it doesn’t. So I think he’ll have a bright future and yeah, I wish him well.”
Hopkins was drafted by the Bills in 2013. He tore a groin muscle before Buffalo’s first game and never kicked for them because he was beaten out in the 2014 training camp by Dan Carpenter, who replaced him in 2013.
Hopkins signed with the Saints’ practice squad in December 2014, but was beaten out by Shayne Graham. He signed with Washington in 2015 and kicked there until he was released in October 2021. He signed with the Chargers and was beaten out by 23-year-old Cameron Dicker in training camp this summer. Hopkins suffered a rib injury in training camp but said he’s fine now.
Practice squad
The Browns signed CB Lorenzo Burns, WR Jaelon Darden, G Michaell Dunn, RB Hassan Hall, DT Trysten Hill, DE Sam Kamara, S Tanner McCalister, TE Zaire Mitchell-Paden, DE Lonnie Phelps, LB Charlie Thomas III, DE Isaiah Thomas and WR Austin Watkins to the practice squad. All 12 of the players were with the Browns in training camp this year. They also signed K Lucas Havrisik, T Alex Leatherwood, QB P.J. Walker to their practice squad.
