Right, but there's a difference between 'stuff that is a default constant' and 'stuff that's assigned by parameters passed in the constructor'. By putting the variable assignment into the field declaration (whether final or otherwise) it helps to declare that that field has a 'default' value rather than something that gets assigned as a side-effect of the constructor.

I'm happy with the constant, and if it's a stylistic requirement then it's just a matter of taste; I thought I'd explain what my thoughts were.