Competition breeds success. At the helm of the 2013 Buffalo Bills Camp lies an intriguing competition for the starting quarterback job. A competition you may have forgotten about was between veteran NFL kicker Rian Lindell and rookie kicker Dustin Hopkins. The Bills announced Monday that they released the longest tenured player on the team in Lindell and in turn have decided to keep Hopkins.
“I think in the past 10 days, Dustin has performed better. So we made a decision to go with Dustin,” Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone said following practice Monday. The decision did not come easily, however. “It’s always tough when you have to release a player like Rian Lindell. A true professional that’s obviously been with the organization for quite some time and I have a lot of respect for him even though I wasn’t here with him in the past,” Marrone added.
Lindell leaves the Bills after 10 seasons of being the most accurate kicker in team history with an 83.3% accuracy rate. At the end of the 2012 season Lindell finished with 980 career points, putting him second in team history behind Steve Christie by only 31 points. Entering camp Lindell was indeed the longest tenured player on the team and had 14 seasons under his belt in the NFL.
Hopkins steps in as the starter only months removed as a sixth round pick in April’s draft from Florida State. His college resume is quite impressive. After four seasons with the Seminoles, Hopkins made 87 career field goals, tying him for first all time in college football history. Those 87 made attempts, in addition to extra points, earned Hopkins 459 career points, which are most all time in FBS history for a kicker and third all time as a player.
Hopkins replaces not just a teammate, but a newly made friend. “[Lindell] treated me with a tremendous amount of respect, given the situation that was put in front of us, knowing that probably one of us was going to be gone. So, losing a guy that, even though it was a short stint, has become a friend of mine…it’s tough,” Hopkins explained after Monday’s practice. After only a few weeks of getting to know each other, it’s safe to say both men acted as professionals.
Throughout the preseason Hopkins has not missed an attempt, although he has only attempted four field goals with a long of 39 yards.
Perhaps one of the reasons Hopkins has felt so comfortable in Buffalo is because his holder and long snapper in the NFL are the same ones he had at certain times at Florida State. Punter Shawn Powell is playing in his second professional season after replacing veteran Brian Moorman last season. Garrison Sanborn is entering his fourth NFL season after signing as an undrafted free agent in Buffalo in 2009.
“It’s cool to represent your university like that, to be proud of what you’ve done and how many people that you’re putting in the league, but specifically with the special team focus and emphasis…It has helped out a lot. Having Shawn [Powell] for three years and having him aware of how I like the ball laying,” Hopkins concluded.
With frequent threats of “We’re coming for you, 21″ from the Bills offensive players and coaches ringing through Leodis McKelvin’s ears, number 21 embraced the challenge. Even on plays where it seemed his man had a step on him, McKelvin recovered with bursts of acceleration and made plays on the ball.
If McKelvin can play at the level he has this training camp during the regular season, the Bills will have two legitimate outside cornerbacks. This will play directly into defensive coordinator Mike Pettines’ hands. He has an aggressive defensive mindset that can really only be successful with shut down corners who can be trusted in single coverage. The main reason his defense was able to be so aggressive for the Jets in previous years was because of the strong corner play from Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie.
With regard to the most popular competition in camp, Monday marked only the second practice the Bills have held where 16th overall draft pick EJ Manuel didn’t participate. Manuel discovered swelling in his left knee when he woke up Saturday morning, the day after the Bills second preseason game against the Vikings. The original timetable of him missing the rest of the preseason did not change Monday.
“We are just keeping him, after a minor procedure, off his feet for the first 48 hours…We’re going to try and get him out there as soon as possible,” Marrone said. If Manuel is to miss the remainder of the preseason, then the door is left open for veteran signal caller Kevin Kolb and undrafted rookie quarterback Jeff Tuel to prove they are both worthy of the starting job.
