Cleveland Browns kicker Cade York to be let go after trade for Chargers' Dustin Hopkins

Cade York was drafted to be the answer to the Browns kicking questions that have existed for a decade. Instead, the former fourth-round pick became the latest in a ever-increasing list of unsuccessful attempts.

It was because of York's own unsuccessful attempts at field goals this preseason, especially in critical spots the last two weeks, that the Browns are going to waive the 23-year-old after just one season in the league. In a separate move, the Browns are acquiring kicker Dustin Hopkins from the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for a 2025 seventh-round pick.

Hopkins was 190 of 224 on field goals and 221 of 234 on point-after kicks in 109 career regular-season games over eight seasons, most of those with the Washington Commanders. He moved from Washington to Los Angeles after six games in 2021, and played five games last season for the Chargers before a hamstring injury put him on the injured reserve.

York sealed his fate with the Browns with a preseason in which he was 4 of 8 on field goals, but 0 of 2 when it came to making kicks in crucial late-game moments. He missed a 41-yard try to break a tie game with two minutes left in the third preseason game against the Eagles, and that try was only set up because his miss from 47 yards was negated by a Philadelphia penalty.

The final blow came last Saturday in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs when York had a 43-yard go-ahead attempt blocked with 57 seconds remaining in a 33-32 loss. He had given the Browns a 32-29 lead with a 40-yarder with 4:19 left in the game.

"Pity pisses me off," York said after the game. "I want to be a weapon. I know how good I am. That's been the most frustrating thing the last month, struggling with that. So, the real games starts soon. Just trying to take a running start into the season and just start putting them through all the time."

Except that, even in that moment, it appeared time was running out on York with the Browns. Or, at least, being their kicker when the season opened.

On Sunday, coach Kevin Stefanski declined to give a firm answer when asked directly if York would be kicking in the Sept. 10 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, the answer is known it won't be York, but Hopkins.

"Yeah, I think all those type of things, we always keep those internal as we get through this week," Stefanski said. "But I'll reiterate I think Cade is very, very talented."

Which is why the preseason struggles could've been explained away as a couple of tough moments, especially given the fact York was virtually perfect when it came to kicks during training camp practices. Except that it came on the heels of a rookie season in which he was up and down despite going 24 of 36 on field goals and 35 of 37 on PATs.

It wasn't the misses. It was when the misses occurred, which was antithetical to the aura York had created around him as a kicker for the LSU Tigers.

York was supposed to be the kicker to fill Dawson's shoes when they made him the No. 124th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He arrived in Cleveland with a big leg and even bigger confidence, having a swagger about him that seem to embrace the challenge he was walking into with the Browns.

That was evident when York was asked during his first training camp about how many times he was asked about arguably his most famous kick in college, a 57-yarder in the fog to beat Florida in The Swamp. His answer summed up his confidence, as well as an understanding of what he was walking into in Cleveland.

"I've been asked about it just about as many times as I've been asked about Phil Dawson," York told the Beacon Journal at the time.

Those questions, and the comparisons that came with them, all seemed to be validated in one shining moment in York's first NFL regular-season game against the Carolina Panthers. With eight seconds left and the Browns trailing by one, he knocked through a 58-yard field goal to provide the franchise just its second opening-day win since the 1999 rebirth.

There, too, York's swagger came to light after the fact. Or before it, if you were one of his teammates.

"He always told us, you know, if we get to the 40 (yard line), he's going to handle it," running back Kareem Hunt said the game. "So, he did it."

The dramatics only elevated the hype to extreme levels. The performance earned York the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award, the first rookie to ever win it in Week 1.

York, though, showed the side beyond the swagger after winning the award. In some ways, he once again provided a premonition for the future.

"I mean, it's something that developed and someone always gives advice on," York said, "because as far as everything you're doing lately, lately I had a good game, but next week's a new game. Cleveland could hate me after next game, so it doesn't really mean anything. So, you kind of gotta stay pretty even-keeled, because if you're a roller-coaster, there's ups, but there's also downs."

The downs that came to define York's brief stay with the Browns started showing the very next game, although it was overshadowed by the team's meltdown in the final 1:55 against the New York Jets. After Nick Chubb scored to give the Browns a 30-17 lead, York missed the PAT.

It seemed like it was the key that unlocked everything else that spiraled afterward in the game. The Jets scored 14 unanswered points, the biggest comeback in the final two minutes of a game in more than 20 years, to stun the Browns in a 31-30 loss.

"I tried to make sure I didn't get complacent," York said after the game. "It's not like I went out there and wasn't ready. I don't know what happened. Have to go back and look at it. I thought I hit it well. It just didn't go in."

That was the story of York's rookie season, at least when it came to field goals that could've changed the outcome of games. Two weeks later, he had not one but two tries from more than 50 yards in the last four minutes — including a 52-yarder with 11 seconds remaining — that could've flipped the result of a 30-28 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Two weeks after that, with two minutes remaining, York had a 60-yard try blocked by the Baltimore Ravens' Malik Harrison to send the Browns home a 23-20 loser. In York's slight defense there, a false start penalty on the Browns moved the attempt back five yards.

The following week, York went 1 of 2 on field goals in a "Monday Night Football" win over the Cincinnati Bengals. That made him 14 of 18 over his first eight games.

After the game, York peeled back the curtain a bit on where his mindset.

"Different strokes for different folks," York said after the Bengals win. "It's just, everyone has their own thing. Getting pissed off helps me sometimes."

York went 10 of 14 over the final eight games of his rookie season. Outside of a 2-of-4 night in a home win over the Ravens in December, though, there was nothing overly notable about the stretch run of his first year.

That's because York, on the day after the season ended, acknowledged a change in approach he was planning on carrying forward into the next season.

"Really, just gotta stick to what makes me good," York said at the time. "When it's time to get into the season, got to get into game mode and stop working on stuff. And even though it's — I'm gonna strive to always be better – maybe not make that always a focus where you're trying to get better because sometimes you just gotta do what you're good at.

"I think that's kind of what I realized later on in the year. And maybe too little, too late but still we'll able to put some good stuff out there and decide to come back next year and just be better."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cade York to be cut by Browns, replaced by Chargers' Dustin Hopkins