The New York Giants‘ voyage to fill their kicking vacancy apparently doesn’t end with just Chandler Catanzaro. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, with a little help from Giants fan favorite Lawrence Tynes, Big Blue is expected to sign veteran free-agent kicker Graham Gano after he passes his physical and COVID-19 testing.
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Gano Has History With Giants
Graham Gano hasn’t kicked in an NFL game since 2018 due to an injury to his plant leg. However, the belief is that Gano is now healthy and ready to return to form. A form that not so long ago made him one of the best kickers in all of football.
After a cup of coffee with the Baltimore Ravens and a stint in the United Football League, Gano landed a job in Washington at the latter part of the 2009 regular season. From there Gano appeared in 36 games, spanning from the end of 2009 through 2011, missing zero games and hitting on 81.4% of his field goals.
Gano found his way to Carolina in 2012, yet it wasn’t until the following season where the kicker’s connections to the current Giants organization began to take form. Dave Gettleman took over as the Panthers’ general manager in 2013, a role in which he served in up until taking over the helm in New York in 2018. Aside from Gettleman, Gano also spent time playing under Giants’ special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, who served in the same role with the Panthers from 2016 through 2017.
Gano’s Carolina career lasted a total of eight seasons, where he quickly cemented himself amongst the league’s best at his position. Gano averaged a field goal percentage of 85.7% over that span, including three seasons with a field goal percentage of at least 87.5%. In his 2017 campaign, Gano led the entire NFL with an absurd 96.7% field goal percentage, on his way to his first and only Pro Bowl berth.
Gano vs. Catanzaro
Gano will now join the likes of Chandler Catanzaro in the battle to replace the recently released Aldrick Rosas. Catanzaro signed with the Giants in late July after retiring from the game in 2019.
Catanzaro has spent time with the Cardinals, Jets, Buccaneers and the Panthers, where interestingly enough he served as an injury replacement to Gano in 2018. Over his five-year career, Catanzaro has hit on 83.8% of his field-goal attempts.
No matter how you cut it, chances are the Giants are in a better position today then they have been in quite some time when it comes to their kicker position. The aforementioned Rosas, who spent the past three seasons as Big Blue’s primary placekicker, only recorded a field goal percentage greater than 72% once in his career.
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