Riley

Patterson

Jacksonville draft K Cam Little out of Arkansas with the 212th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. With Slye’s release, it looks like Little will compete with veteran Riley Patterson for kicking duties. Little converted nearly 83 percent of his field goals at Arkansas and never missed an extra point. Little was first-team All-SEC as a kickoff specialist. Slye, who made 85 percent of his kicks during three years with the Commanders, will likely find work elsewhere this summer.

Patterson spent the 2022 season with the Jaguars, converting on 30-of-35 field goals in the regular season. He also punched through a game-winning field goal in the Jaguars’ Wild Card comeback win over the Chargers in the 2022 postseason. Patterson has made 88.1 percent of his career attempts and spent time with the Browns and Lions last season. This recent deal suggests he’ll have a chance to win the kicker competition in camp ahead of the 2024 season.

Hopkins hurt his hamstring in Week 16 against the Texans and has not played since. He will not practice on Tuesday and Stefanski made it clear that it’s unlikely Hopkins will be able to play this weekend. Riley Patterson will most likely kick in his place.

Patterson will get the call Thursday night against the Jets with Dustin Hopkins down with a hamstring injury. Patterson made 15 of 17 field goal attempts for the Lions before being released in early December. He’ll be a fringe fantasy option against the Jets.

Before the Jaguars could release Patterson, the Lions swooped in. Patterson was usurped in Jacksonville by Brandon McManus, and now he heads to the kneecap-biters for what amounts to little compensation. Michael Badgley and John Parker Romo are kickers currently on Detroit’s roster that have now been put on notice. Patterson has hit 88% of his field-goal attempts through two seasons, one of which was in Detroit in 2021.

The team on Thursday signed former Broncos K Brandon McManus and parted ways with Patterson, who made 30 of 35 field goal tries in 2022. An 88 percent field goal kicker through two NFL seasons, Patterson will probably compete for a starting job elsewhere this summer.

Patterson is good to go for his high-totaled contest after his knee flared up earlier in the week. Patterson ended the season as fantasy’s No. 13 kicker by average points.

James McCourt is on Jacksonville’s practice squad and may be called up to kick on Saturday if necessary.

The Jaguars briefly looked like they were up to four kickers on the roster, but James McCourt and Jake Verity were waived in corresponding moves. The Jaguars also claimed DB Tyree Gillespie, RB Jamycal Hasty, WR Kendric Pryor, and LB Ty Summers.

Patterson (5’10/181) was a three-star prospect that was rated as the 16th best kicker from the 2017 prep class. The Edwardsville, IL native struggled a bit as a freshman, converting 69 percent of his field goals while registering only two touchbacks on 24 kickoffs. However, Patterson showed consistent year-over-year improvement throughout his career, boosting his conversion rate to 75 percent in 2018 and 92 percent in 2019. In addition to his on-point accuracy, Patterson converted five-of-six attempts of 50 or more yards two seasons ago. His production slipped a bit in 2020, making 15-of-22 attempts, but five of those misses came from beyond the 50-yard threshold, so that should be accounted for. Though he doesn’t possess the most imposing leg in the class, his touchback rate was decent, as 38-of-63 kickoffs were not returned. He will need to iron out his conversion rate if he is going to stick around at the NFL level. The Vikings only have one other kicker rostered, third-year boot Greg Joseph, who has just 20 career field goal attempts. Expect a true kicking completion to take place between Joseph and Patterson if the Vikings don’t bring in anyone else.