Taylor

Bertolet

He clearly kicked through agony in Monday night’s win, and it’s possible he’ll be placed on injured reserve for his efforts. Taylor Bertolet is on Los Angeles’ practice squad and kicked earlier this year while Hopkins was hurt, so he’ll be the likely short-term replacement.

Hopkins was limited all week in practice, suggesting he will be able to go. That said, the Chargers did add Taylor Bertolet to the practice squad. If Bertolet is elevated on Saturday, that would be a big sign Hopkins will sit out this week.

While this doesn’t necessarily mean that Dustin Hopkins (quad) is out for Week 5, we’ve seen a trend amongst kickers this year where the practice squad addition generally speaks pretty loudly about the status of the starting kicker. Bertolet has never appeared in an NFL game, but has been a practice-squad fixture over the past six seasons. He made 11-of-15 field goals for the New Orleans Breakers earlier this season.

Bertolet will be tasked with replacing Chander Catanzaro, who surprisingly announced his retirement on Sunday. The Jets have a history with Bertolet, who was among the team’s final cuts during last year’s training camp. A standout at Texas A&M, Bertolet has bounced around various training camps the last few summers and even enjoyed a stint in the short-lived AAF with the Salt Lake Stallions. He has yet to see the field in an NFL regular season game.

Bertolet most recently notched 8-of-14 field goals with the Salt Lake City Stallions in the Alliance of American Football League. He has yet to kick in a regular season game.

Bertolet (5'8/188) spent a little more than two seasons as the Aggies’ placekicker, finishing his career 37-of-56 (66.1%) on field goals and 128-of-138 on extra points. Simply put, Bertolet isn’t accurate enough to nail down a job in the NFL.