There was a lot to like for Cleveland Browns fans on Saturday as the team wrapped up an undefeated preseason with a 19-17 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Multiple potential breakout performers had standout showings on both sides of the ball, though kicker Dustin Hopkins rained on the parade a bit by missing an extra point, which was his second missed extra point of the preseason.
Hopkins made his 28-yard field goal attempt on Saturday, but missed one of his two extra point attempts, which prompted many fans and media members to all say variations of the same thing.
“Dustin Hopkins missed the PAT. Folks, this a problem,” Zac Jackson said.
“I have negative faith in Dustin Hopkins right now. Negative,” Mikey McNuggets said.
“2023 from the best kicking season in Browns history. Evidently, Dustin Hopkins used up all his kicks that year. He’s out,” Pete Smith wrote.
“Time to move on from Hopkins. What happened to Dustin? Love the dude but daaaaaaaang,” The Land wrote.
The two misses could be enough to push the Browns to explore other options, as Hopkins’ seat might be rather hot after the year he had in 2024.
The veteran is coming off the worst season of his career by far, as he made just 18 of his 27 field-goal attempts last year.
The 66.7-percent success rate was the first time in his career that he made fewer than 79 percent of his kicks, and it was a massive dropoff from the 91.7-percent rate he had in 2023 when he made 33 of his 36 kicks.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events on the heels of such an impressive 2023 campaign, but Hopkins is likely on thin ice after a shaky preseason and could be a few misses away from being replaced as this team’s kicker.
Hopefully, he was just knocking off the rust and can put last season behind him once the regular season begins.
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