Szmyt is positioned as the Browns' starting placekicker after the team waived Dustin Hopkins on Tuesday, per Kelsey Russo of the team's official site.
Cleveland will move forward with Szmyt rather than Hopkins, who converted just 67 percent of his field-goal attempts across 16 regular-season appearances with the team last season. Szmyt impressed for the St. Louis Battlehawks in the UFL in spring, when he converted 19 of 21 field-goal attempts (90.5 percent), and he'll now get an opportunity to prove he can maintain similar accuracy during the regular season of the NFL.
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Browns' Andre Szmyt: Boots game-winning kick
Rotowire
Szmyt converted his lone field-goal attempt from 37 yards in Saturday's 19-17 preseason win over the Rams.
Szmyt calmly drilled his kick through the middle of the goal posts with no time left on the clock. It finished a perfect preseason for Szmyt, who was successful on all three FGA and one XPA. Meanwhile, Dustin Hopkins converted from 28 yards out and was wide left on his lone extra-point try, his second missed XPA in preseason work. A 53-man roster projection from Zac Jackson of The Athletic pegs Szmyt over Hopkins for the placekicking job, but that comes with the caveat that Szmyt has never kicked in a regular-season NFL game. However, he did post an impressive 90.5 percent success rate (19-for-21) on field goals for the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks this past spring, a sample that included a 4-for-5 tally on attempts from 50+ yards.
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Browns' Andre Szmyt: Makes three kicks Saturday
Rotowire
Szmyt converted both of his field-goal attempts and an extra-point kick in Saturday's 22-13 preseason win over Philadelphia.
Szmyt showed off his leg with a 49-yarder in the second quarter and later was successful on a 33-yarder. He's in camp along with Dustin Hopkins, who nailed a 46-yarder earlier in the game. Hopkins is expected to open the regular season as Cleveland's placekicker, but he's coming off a 2024 season in which he made just 18-of-27 field-goal attempts. Hence, the decision to bring in Szmyt as competition.
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Browns' Andre Szmyt: Resurfaces in Cleveland
Rotowire
The Browns signed Szmyt to a contract Thursday, Kelsey Russo of the team's official site reports.
Szmyt spent time on Cleveland's practice squad last December and began the offseason on the team's 90-man roster, but he was waived in early June to make room for second-year wideout Jaelen Gill. Now, with the Browns' release of Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Szmyt gets an opportunity to re-sign with the team and provide competition for projected starting kicker Dustin Hopkins.
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Browns' Andre Szmyt: Back with Browns on futures deal
Rotowire
Cleveland signed Szmyt to a reserve/futures contract Tuesday.
The Browns cut Szmyt from their practice squad in December, but now he'll start 2025 back with them. Starting kicker Dustin Hopkins is coming off a rough season (66.7 percent field-goal conversion rate), so there could be competition at the position before the next campaign.
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Andre Szmyt: Let go by Cleveland
Rotowire
The Browns cut Szmyt from the practice squad Tuesday.
Szmyt was signed to the Browns' practice squad Dec. 24 to provide competition to Dustin Hopkins for kicking duties over the final two games of the regular season. Hopkins made his lone extra-point attempt during Cleveland's Week 17 loss to Miami, and it appears he will serve as the Browns' kicker for the regular-season finale against the Ravens on Saturday due to Szmyt being let go from the practice squad. Szmyt hasn't attempted a kick in an NFL regular-season game since signing with the Bears as an undrafted free agent out of Syracuse in April of 2023.
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Andre Szmyt: Joins Cleveland's practice squad
Rotowire
Szmyt agreed to a contract with the Browns' practice squad Tuesday, Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN.com reports.
Cleveland's decision to bring Szmyt aboard as a member of its practice squad could hint that Dustin Hopkins' standing as the team's kicker is on shaky ground after another poor performance in Sunday's 24-6 loss to the Bengals. After he was inactive for the Week 15 loss to the Chiefs following a string of poor outings, Hopkins stepped back in as Cleveland's kicker for Week 16 but missed his lone extra-point attempt in the loss. With Hopkins having now missed 12 total kicks on the season (nine field goals, three extra points), the Browns could turn to Szmyt if he impresses in his initial practices with the team. The 26-year-old has yet to make his NFL debut since going undrafted out of Syracuse in 2023, but he was one of the top kickers in the UFL this past spring as a member of the St. Louis Battlehawks, converting 19 of 21 field-goal attempts with a long of 61 yards.
