Now is very much the time for the Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland Browns Heading For A 2025 Free Agent Exodus
![BREAKING: Cleveland Browns' 10th Year Kicker Rewarded With Hefty Raise To Become One Of The Top 5 Highest Paid Place Kickers 1 Cleveland Browns, Nick Chubb](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/USATSI_19678313_168400517_lowres-200x300.webp)
A host of key players set to become free agents at the close of the 2024 season, including All-Pros Joel Bitonio and Nick Chubb; Pro Bowlers Amari Cooper and Jeremiah Owosu Koramoah; and other key starters such as corner, Greg Newsome II and stalwart left tackle, Jedrick Wills Jr.,
As such, there is a ominous feeling around the building that this is the make or break year for the ever-promising but seemingly never quite delivering Cleveland Browns.
Moreover, the Browns are set to be a a whopping $66 million over the cap in 2025, substantially more than even the gargantuan $30 million salary cap raise of this past year, meaning there will likely be considerable cap casualties alongside multiple free agent departures come next March.
Yet, whilst there is certainly an ‘all-in’ feel about the 2024 season; no one else more than for quarterback, Deshaun Watson; Cleveland have decided to spend important future capital on a position that is normally reserved for those in cap surplus, rather than teams in win-now mode, facing the financial clinch in seasons to come, per Adam Schefter.
Highest paid kickers in the NFL on a per-year basis:
🏈Justin Tucker: $6M
🏈Jake Elliott: $6M
🏈Matt Gay: $5.62M
🏈Graham Gano: $5.5M
🏈Dustin Hopkins: $5.3M
🏈Ka’imi Fairbairn: $5.3M https://t.co/V7veN3ExKZ— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2024
Dustin Hopkins Signs 3 Year Extension $15.9 Million Extension To Become A Top 5 Kicker In The NFL
![BREAKING: Cleveland Browns' 10th Year Kicker Rewarded With Hefty Raise To Become One Of The Top 5 Highest Paid Place Kickers 2 Cleveland Browns, Geron Christian Sr.](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/USATSI_21936365-300x169.webp)
Dustin Hopkins has had rather an unusual career up until now in the National Football League.
After being selected by Washington in the 6th round of the 2013 draft, Hopkins won the starting job, only to sustain an injury in Week 1 that eventually cost him the job for the following 2 years.
He was re-signed to the then Redskins and proved to be a reliable if unspectacular starting kicker for the ensuing 6 years before being cut mid-season and signed by the Los Angeles Chargers, who then extended him in 2022 before trading him away to the Cleveland Browns after the impressive training camp of undrafted rookie, Cameron Dicker.
So, certainly not the straight-line path that many successful players take, and much of that pertains, ultimately, to Hopkins’ standing around the league as a player. Hopkins has always ranged from a slightly below average to slightly above average veteran starting kicker in the league, with his best 3 years having come since his departure from Washington, attaining a 90+% field goal conversion rate in all 3, and a 100% extra point percentage in 2022.
Yet, he has never been a Harrison Butker, Justin Tucker or Jake Elliot level elite place kicker, which can make his evaluation from a financial perspective a little tricky considering both the importance of the position; kickers win championships in the biggest moments; in addition to the relative high possibility of snagging a good starter with a Day 3 draft pick.
A Potential Head Scratching Move For The Cleveland Browns
![BREAKING: Cleveland Browns' 10th Year Kicker Rewarded With Hefty Raise To Become One Of The Top 5 Highest Paid Place Kickers 3 cleveland browns nfl draft](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/1331690591.0-300x200.webp)
For the Browns, I am not sure how much I like this move. Although at 33, age is hardly an immediate concern, there is little belief that this investment is to keep in-house the long-term kicker of the franchise for the next decade.
And considering what is really a dire cap scenario, where critical, top level players are set to depart or be cut at the end of the year, it seems like somewhat of a strange move to hand a top 5 contract to a kicker that is, quite honestly not a top 10 kicker, let alone top 5.
Yes, $5 million/year is hardly a make or break, but when the number crunching starts in the days preceding March 15, 2025, this may turn out to be capital that the Cleveland Browns wished they had reserved for a more indispensable position.
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