Before the season started, it felt like the New York Giants had something special on their hands with their young kicker.
Undrafted free agent Dominic Zvada was an early standout in training camp and preseason, nailing all five of his field goal attempts and all four of his extra-point attempts throughout New York’s preseason.
Even once the real games began, the former Michigan kicker was lights out for Big Blue. He was perfect through the first four games of his career, drilling nine straight field goal tries.
Then disaster struck in Week 5, when the rookie went 2-for-5 against the Washington Commanders. He’s been shaky at best ever since.
But all is not lost for Zvada, and he received a vote of confidence from longtime Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes.
Lawrence Tynes Sends Encouraging Message to Dominic Zvada
As the New York Giants head into their bye week, Zvada is going to get the chance to reset and refine some of the things that have gone wrong with his game.
He’ll also want to read this message from Tynes, who knows a thing or two as a two-time champion as the Giants’ kicker.
“John Harbaugh is an expert with kickers. He knows the position better than any head coach in football. He literally had two kickers in his 19 seasons at Baltimore who are both borderline Hall of Famers (Stover and Tucker),” wrote Tynes in a long post on X.
“Dominic Zvada is going to be an elite NFL kicker for many years. The Giants know what they have in him, he’s a rare talent. There are going to be some bumps along the way but missing 57, 56, and 50 yarders is 100% excusable for a rookie.”
Sure, Tynes has some blue-tinted glasses on thanks to his time with Big Blue, but he isn’t just blowing smoke here. He did offer some advice to the Giants coaching staff to get Zvada back in a groove.
“Only thing I would change is stop putting him out there for 55+ yd FG’s unless it is end of game of or end of half situation for the time being. He needs to keep building his confidence and missing from any distance dents that along with the media scrutiny,” continued Tynes.
“I am a huge fan of this young man. We cannot make the mistake of letting him out the building like we did with future Hall of Famer Chris Boswell PIT in 2015. Patience is required. Go Big Blue!”
We’ll see if the Giants and/or Zvada end up taking him up on this advice.
Giants Have No Plans to Move on From Dominic Zvada
At his pre-bye press conference, John Harbaugh was asked if the New York Giants were planning on bringing in any kickers for a workout as insurance for the struggling Zvada.
His answer was short and to the point, indicating just how much faith the team still has in the rookie kicker.
“We’re not going to be doing that right now, no,” Harbaugh responded.
Despite the rough patch, Zvada still seems to be in the Giants’ long-term plans, and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
Giants’ Super Bowl Champion Sends Message to Dominic Zvada