By Jordan Long
The Washington Football team is preparing to take on the Green Bay Packers, looking to stop their 2-game losing streak. Washington decided to cut kicker Justin Dustin Hopkins and activate Chris Blewitt. Blewitt had been on the practice squad.
Hopkins spent his whole career to this point with the Washington franchise. He wasn’t the best kicker, but he still nailed the field goals when he needed to. Hopkins ended making 163 of 194 his kicks, a percentage of 84%. Washington couldn’t trust him when he had to kick 40 to 50+ yard field goals. Hopkins percentage from that distance was 60%, meaning a missed field goal and the opponents’ offense would have decent field position to start a drive. His longest field goal made was 56 yards.
When it came to extra points, he couldn’t nail those through the uprights. There were times he pushed an extra point to the right or the left side which were missed. Hopkins was 179 of 190 for extra points, a percentage of 94.2%.
The last straw with Hopkins came last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. Hopkins missed a 42-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter that would have extended Washington’s lead to 16-10. Instead, Kansas City turned that miss into 21 straight points. Kansas City won the game 31-13. Washington is making Hopkins the main reason they lost even though the defense couldn’t stop Kansas City’s offense.
With Hopkins out of Washington, Blewitt is the kicker moving forward for now. Washington is taking a chance with Blewitt. He has never played an NFL game. Blewitt was with Chicago during the 2019 training camp but didn’t earn a roster spot.
Blewitt played his college football with the University of Pittsburgh. He wasn’t that accurate with field goals, going 55 of 79, a make percentage of 69.6% from 2013 to 2016. Blewitt was also 198 of 204 in extra points, a percentage of 97.1%.
Blewitt has his chance to be a kicker in the NFL. He needs to show he can handle the duties. If Blewitt starts missing kicks and costs Washington games, he won’t be there for long. Hopefully, Blewitt can be the long-term answer at kicker for Washington.
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