Graham Gano‘s injury changed the Giants’ gameday procedure, costing them dearly in a narrow loss to the Commanders. After not attempting any extra points once Gano went down, the Giants will make their expected addition.
With Gano set to miss at least four games, New York worked out four kickers. The team, however, will take another course. The Giants are signing Greg Joseph off the Lions’ practice squad, per his agency. The team must keep Joseph on its 53-man roster for at least three weeks due to poaching him off another team’s P-squad. Gano is now on IR, per a Giants announcement.
The Giants initially attempted a free agency path here, with NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo indicating the team worked out Zane Gonzalez, Randy Bullock, Riley Patterson and Tanner Brown. Instead, it will be Joseph, who will head to team No. 3 this year. Joseph signed with the Packers early this offseason but did not make their 53-man roster, joining the Lions’ practice squad as Jake Bates insurance. But an immediate opportunity will come his way in New York.
Joseph, 30, spent the past three seasons as the Vikings’ kicker. He drilled a 61-yard game-winning field goal to beat the Giants in Week 16 of the 2022 season. Like Gano, who made a 63-yarder to beat the Giants as a Panther in 2018, Joseph will make his way to the NFC’s New York franchise.
Joseph made 86.8% of his field goals in 2021 but did not clear the 80% barrier in either of the past two seasons. He made 80% of his tries last season, missing three from between 40 and 49 yards, and saw the Vikings take a different route this year.
As for Gano, this is the second time he has landed on IR in as many seasons. Gano has suffered two injuries since the Giants gave him a three-year, $16.5MM extension ($11.34MM guaranteed) in September 2023. Gano, 37, missed nine games last season. The Giants will hope to have their regular specialist back from his hamstring injury this season, but they will need to use an IR activation to make that happen.
Bullock served as the Giants’ Gano replacement in six games last season, while Patterson could not secure a spot as the Commanders’ kicker in the preseason. (Gonzalez has not kicked since the 2021 season.) The Commanders, who settled on Austin Seibert as their latest kicker, became the first NFL team to win a game despite scoring zero touchdowns to their opponent’s three.
PFR must not have any fact-checkers. Giants punter Jamie Gillan attempted a PAT after their first TD but his try was wide right. That’s why the Giants went for 2 after their subsequent TDs.
These times demand accuracy!
PFR has excellent fact checkers but they intentionally make these mistakes so fans like Chucky can show the rest of us how brilliant and perceptive they are 🙂