Dustin Hopkins groin injury prompts Buffalo Bills' Dan Carpenter signing

ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that Buffalo Bills kicker Dustin Hopkins injured his groin during practice on Monday, and that the Bills have decided to sign free agent kicker Dan Carpenter as a result.

Hopkins, a rookie out of Florida State, won the team's kicking job in training camp with ease. The injury suffered today, however, clearly means that his status for Sunday's Week 1 tilt with the New England Patriots is in doubt, so the Bills needed to bring a kicker into the building. They used the final spot on their 53-man active roster to do so.

Carpenter, 27, has been the Miami Dolphins' primary placekicker for the past five seasons. After two rough seasons between 2010-12 (67.3 percent accuracy in '10 and 76.9 percent a year ago), the Dolphins drafted kicker Caleb Sturgis to replace Carpenter, who was released on August 14 and has since spent time with Arizona and the Jets. He also reportedly had a workout scheduled in Cleveland tomorrow, but has obviously canceled those plans.

Now in Buffalo, the only AFC East team that Carpenter has not played for is his opening day opponent.