BY NICK ST. DENIS
Rian Lindell needed just a handful of field goals and a few more extra points to become the Buffalo Bills' all-time scoring leader. He'll have to settle for No. 2 behind former kicker Steve Christie.
The Bills announced Monday they released the 36-year-old kicker. Lindell amassed 980 points in 10 years with Buffalo after spending his first three seasons in Seattle.
His departure from the Bills, however, was pretty much imminent after the team drafted Dustin Hopkins in the sixth round of this year's draft.
Hopkins showed enough through training camp and the first part of the preseason to make the Bills feel comfortable about releasing their longest-tenured player. Lindell reportedly was more accurate at the start of the positional battle but Hopkins caught up over the summer.
Lindell made 21 of 24 field goal attempts in 2012, though he was incredibly weak on kickoffs. He could potentially sign on with a team that has a kickoff specialist, but he won't make it if he's required to do both.
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