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With the No. 177 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Florida State kicker Dustin Hopkins.
Buffalo loves Florida State's special teams units; punter Shawn Powell and long snapper Garrison Sanborn are both graduates of the program. Now they add Hopkins, who evolved into one of college football's most consistent kickers over a four-year career in which he connected on 78.6 percent of his kick tries, including 25-of-30 as a senior. He has a career-long kick of 56 yards, which he hit a year ago.
The Bills have had some range problems at kicker over the past couple of years, with veteran Rian Lindell becoming increasingly unreliable beyond 50 yards. Hopkins provides Buffalo with a younger, fresher leg, big-game kicking experience, program pedigree, and a legitimate competitor for Lindell at the kicker spot.
This is the second straight year that the Bills have drafted a kicker; 2012 seventh-round pick John Potter, a kickoff specialist, did not last a full season in Buffalo.