Browns to bring back kicker

After one season spent outside of Cleveland, Cade York is coming back to the team that drafted him. The former fourth-round kicker is signing with the Browns, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.

York was drafted by the Browns in 2022, and he held down the full-time kicking gig during his rookie campaign. He connected on only 75 percent of his attempts that year, and followed it up with a poor outing in training camp and the preseason. It thus came as little surprise when Cleveland traded for Dustin Hopkins in advance of roster cutdowns and waived York.

While the Browns intended to keep the 23-year-old in the organization via the practice squad, he joined the Titans’ taxi squad upon clearing waivers. York did not see any action in Tennessee, however, and in November he signed with the Giants in a move which seemed to give him the opportunity to fill in for an injured Graham Gano. An injury suffered by York at the same time as Randy Bullock forced New York to sign Mason Crosby, keeping him off the field entirely in 2023.

Hopkins — who kicked in 15 games with Cleveland before suffering a hamstring injury — is still under contract for one more season. None of his $3.06M in compensation is guaranteed, though, so the Browns would not incur any dead money by moving on from him this offseason. By re-acquiring York, Cleveland will be able to hold a kicking competition throughout the summer.

Hopkins went 33 for 36 on field goal tries last season, good for a career-high accuracy rate of 91.7 percent. The 33-year-old also missed only two extra point attempts, so he should be expected to be the favorite for the kicking position ahead of the 2024 campaign. With York back in the fold, though, the latter will have the chance to win back his spot from 2022.