Browns acquire kicker Dustin Hopkins from Chargers: Why both teams made the trade -

By Zac Jackson, Jeff Howe and Daniel Popper

The Los Angeles Chargers have traded kicker Dustin Hopkins to the Cleveland Browns, the team announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

The Chargers will receive a 2025 seventh-round pick from the Browns.
Cleveland 2022 fourth-round pick Cade York has been waived after struggling this offseason, according to a team source.
It appears Cameron Dicker will be the Chargers’ kicker to open the 2023 regular season.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

York a lingering problem

The Browns went from a combination of ignoring York’s struggles and believing that York would turn things around to a state of kicking emergency in about 10 days. York had multiple misses in each of the final two preseason games, and the Browns had to find a better option. This was not just a summer problem. York made his first eight field goal tries to start his rookie season before slumping badly the rest of the year. He made just 16 of his final 24 field goal tries last season.

The Browns drafted York in the fourth round in 2022, gave him no competition in either training camp and believed he’d be their kicker for a long time. York only had one practice field miss all summer, but his inconsistencies and his preseason misses forced the Browns to go searching for options. They chose Hopkins, who has previous experience kicking in shaky weather from his seven years with Washington. — Jackson

Chargers’ kicking battle solved

With this trade, Dicker has officially won the Chargers’ kicker competition. The team entered training camp hoping for an open battle between Dicker and Hopkins. But Hopkins suffered an injury in the second practice and did not kick in live field goal drills for more than two weeks. That played a role in this result.

Hopkins joined the Chargers midway through the 2021 season and made 18 of his 20 field goal attempts over the final 11 games of the year. The Chargers then signed him to an extension that offseason. In Week 6 of 2022, Hopkins made four field goals, including an overtime winner, to lift the Chargers to a win over the Broncos. He injured his hamstring early in that game, though, and went on to miss the remainder of the year. The Chargers turned to Taylor Bertolet for one game. He, too, was injured. Dicker then took over as kicker in Week 9 and made 19 of 20 field goals in 10 regular season games.

When he was on the field, Hopkins was a very reliable kicker for the Chargers. But injuries are the primary reason his time with the team is ending. — Popper

Backstory

Hopkins, 32, kicked for five games last season with the Chargers before going on injured reserve in late November. He made nine of his 10 field goal tries in 2022.

He played for Washington from 2015 to 2021. Hopkins played six games in Washington in 2021, before moving to Los Angeles for 11 games for the rest of that season. He’s made 84.8 percent of his field goal attempts in his career.

York missed three field goal attempts shorter than 40 yards last season, tied for most in the NFL. In all, York missed 17.6 percent of his attempts shorter than 40 yards in 2022 (3 of 17), the second-worst rate in the NFL (Brandon McManus: 23.1 percent; 3 of 13).

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(Photo: Bob Levey / Getty Images)

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