Cameron Dicker and Dustin Hopkins are duking it out during the spring as the kicker competition continues. Based on the account of Chargers’ Senior Writer Eric Smith, the battle seems to still be on relatively even ground.
On Tuesday during mandatory minicamp, both kickers took five field goals in team drills. Dicker and Hopkins each went 4/5 on their attempts.
Per Smith, adding Tuesday’s totals to their overall spring competition would make Hopkins 15 for 17 (88.2%) on field goal attempts that reporters were able to see. In the same practice window open to the media, Dicker has gone 10 for 11 (90.9%) this offseason.
With both players kicking well so far, it doesn’t seem as though we’ll get much separation prior to training camp and the preseason.
Last season, Hopkins played five games before he was permanently sidelined for the rest of the season with a nagging hamstring injury. He went nine for ten on field goals and 100% on extra points in the games he did play. The most memorable performance from Hopkins was when he hit four field goals against Denver on Monday Night Football despite his leg injury:
DUSTIN HOPKINS WALKS IT OFF FOR THE CHARGERS IN OT⚡
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/H9gtrRDmlF
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 18, 2022
After Hopkins was placed on injured reserve, Dicker was the starter for the rest of the season. In 10 games with the Chargers, he was perfect on 22 extra-point attempts and was 19/20 on field goals. Prior to his tenure with Los Angeles, Dicker also started one game for Philadelphia last year. He had two game-winning field goals against the Cardinals and Falcons on the season.
The financial difference between the two kickers when the Chargers may ultimately have to release one of them is interesting. Prior to last season, Hopkins signed a three-year extension to stay in Los Angeles. With a post-June 1st cut, the Chargers would take a $1.9 million dead cap charge and save about $1.2 million against the cap with Hopkins’ $3.1 million cap number. On the other hand, Dicker has no guaranteed money as an exclusive rights free agent. The Chargers would save $870K with his release.
Another possible route could be trading the kicker who loses the competition to a team that needs one later in the offseason. The Jaguars traded Riley Patterson to Detroit for a future seventh-round pick after they acquired Brandon McManus as their new starter. If the Chargers eventually have a clear winner in the competition, they could dangle the other kicker in trade talks prior to being waived.
There’s still a lot of time left in the offseason before we’ll know who wins out, but it’s clear that both kickers are performing well so far. At this point, neither is close to clinching the 2023 job.
