The Browns have announced their gameday transactions which include two activations from injured reserve and two standard gameday elevations. One of those elevations, that of kicker Riley Patterson, seems to insinuate a potential change in the depth chart.
Regular kicker Dustin Hopkins has been having the worst kicking year of his career. On the season, Hopkins has missed nine of his 25 attempts, including a miss from inside 30 yards and five misses from inside 50. Adding to an abysmal 64 percent field goal conversion rate are two missed extra point attempts out of 18 tries. The veteran’s inconsistency has been on display all season, but in Cleveland’s last four games, Hopkins has gone an atrocious two for seven (three for nine in the last five games).
Hopkins signed a three-year, $15.9MM extension to stay in Cleveland after missing only three kicks in 2023, making all eight tries from beyond 50 yards. Earlier this week, following a loss in which Hopkins missed his only two field goal attempts, head coach Kevin Stefanski doubled down on the beleaguered veteran, claiming that Hopkins is their kicker. It’s not clear whether or not Hopkins will open tomorrow’s contest with a bit of a leash or if Patterson’s promotion makes him the primary kicker on Sunday, but the elevation is worth noting, regardless, after Stefanski’s comments.
The two IR activations are both rookies: second-round defensive tackle from Ohio State Mike Hall Jr. and seventh-round South Dakota cornerback Myles Harden. Hall played in four games earlier this year after a delayed start to his rookie season and factored into the defensive line rotation pretty significantly, averaging just over 40 percent of the snap count each game. He’ll return in time to try and get his rookie season back on track.
Harden, on the other hand, was placed on IR shortly after Week 1, a game in which he did not appear, and would be making his NFL debut, should he get on the field. Both players are listed as questionable on the injury report after full practices on Friday.
The other standard gameday elevation joining Patterson off the practice squad tomorrow will be wide receiver and return man James Proche. In five games for the Browns this year, Proche has only three catches for 21 yards but has contributed to the return game with 13 punt returns for 119 yards.