Dustin Hopkins‘ time with the Washington Football Team is over.
The Burgundy and Gold released its longtime kicker Wednesday after Hopkins’ consistent struggles this season. In a corresponding move, the team signed kicker Chris Blewitt from the practice squad to be Hopkins’ replacement.
Hopkins, 31, was 12 of 14 on field-goal attempts this year and 10 of 12 on extra points. But in six games, Hopkins had missed kicks in half of them.
Washington coach Ron Rivera had strongly backed Hopkins throughout the struggles, telling reporters “if I get off him, it could get worse.”
Even with the support, however, Hopkins continued to struggle. This past weekend, Hopkins badly missed a 42-yard attempt that would have given Washington a 16-10 lead against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs then seized on the miss, scoring 21 unanswered to win the game.
Hopkins had been with Washington since 2015. He appeared in 93 games for the franchise, making 84% of his field-goal attempts and 94.2% of his extra points.
Blewitt, meanwhile, has not kicked in an NFL game before. In fact, he hasn’t kicked a field goal in an organized game of football since college — in 2016. Blewitt spent four years at the University of Pittsburgh from 2013 to 2016, hitting only 69.6% of his kicks.
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