McGaughey Looks to Ensure Giants Remain "Special"

Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey is one of the few holdovers from the previous regime. Now under new head coach and former New England Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge, McGaughey will look to continue his track record for leading quality special teams units.

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During McGaughey's first two seasons leading the unit, the Giants have ranked at or near the top 10 in the league in almost every major statistical special teams category.

However, McGaughey will have to make it work with some new pieces in 2020 as the Giants will be without some key contributors from last season.

Former kicker Aldrick Rosas' off-season legal issues stemming from an alleged hit-and-run in Chico, California, gave the Giants an extra unwanted off-the-field headache.

But more importantly, it ultimately resulted in a troubling hole at the kicker spot heading into the season.

"I love Aldrick to death. But it’s a new day, new opportunity. Aldrick’s going to be fine. He knows how I feel about him," McGaughey said in a video press conference on Tuesday.

Shortly after releasing Rosas, the Giants picked up 29-year-old former Jets, Panthers, Buccaneers and Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro. Catanzaro is a five-year veteran but did not play in the NFL in 2019 and announced his retirement after landing on the Jets' reserve/left squad list last August.

Catanzaro's kicking performance has shown a decline in recent years. He posted a career-worst of 73.3 field-goal percentage in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and missed five total extra points that year.

However, Catanzaro brings several elements of experience to the Giants special teams unit that McGaughey is seeking.

"Chandler is a guy who’s a veteran kicker in this league," McGaughey said. "He’s performed at a high level before. We’re just hoping to get him back to that level. He’s a hard worker and very conscientious."

As a former Jet, Catanzaro also brings experience kicking in Metlife Stadium and Northeastern conditions, which will be crucial late in the season.

"You always want to have somebody who’s had experience kicking in the northeast. That was huge," McGaughey said. "Obviously getting Chandler who has actually kicked in this exact stadium was a benefit."

McGaughey will also be tasked with identifying the team's new returners for 2020.

Last week, they lost one of their leading return men when wide receiver Da'Mari Scott chose to opt-out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.

Safety Jabrill Peppers and wide receiver Golden Tate are options as returners, and the Giants will be getting wide receiver Corey Coleman back this year after missing all of 2019 to a torn ACL.

But if McGaughey is looking to get new blood in the Giants return game, he will not have the typical circumstances to try out new players. Without any pre-season games this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McGaughey will have to rely on college film and practice reps to judge potential new return men.

"That return game is different," McGaughey said. "You don’t know until you get into a game and you put a guy into a situation. We won’t have games, so that’s just the reality of our situation. We need to make do with what we have.

"We all know there is a transition between college and the pros. It’s going to be a difficult situation for all of us as evaluators to be able to make sure we’re making the right decisions. That’s just the situation we’re in and we have to make do with it. Everybody in the league is in the same situation."

McGaughey will have a few new faces to try and evaluate, including fourth-round rookie corner Darnay Holmes out of UCLA and undrafted rookie running back Javon Leake out of Maryland, both of which were meaningful contributors to the return game in college.

Beyond the kicker and returners, the Giants will have to find new players to fill the holes left by the departures of Pro Bowler Michael Thomas, gunner Antonio Hamilton, and core member Russell Shepard.

These holes will open up opportunities for younger players to carve a role for themselves and make contributions early in their careers.

The Giants will be taking 22 rookies into training camp, along with a handful of other young players with a year or two of NFL experience, and special teams will likely be their proving ground to make the roster in 2020.

"We have to be able to watch them in the drill work and the stuff we’ll do simulated in practice that will simulate games," McGaughey said. "We just have to put our best foot forward as evaluators. It’s hard, I’m not going to sit up here and say it’s easy,"

"We’ll simulate as much as we can in practice, the speed of everything, as much as we can in practice. We’ll come up with the best 53 at the end of training camp."

The Giants did add one a proven special teams ace this offseason with the signing of Nate Ebner, who played for Judge as a core special teams player in New England. With eight years of NFL experience and three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, McGaughey will lean on Ebner as a veteran leader for his unit in 2020.

"Nate’s awesome," McGaughey said. "He’s a good man, works extremely hard, he’s a great teammate. He brings a lot to the table. He comes with a lot of experience. He is really good with the young players. Again, first things first with him, he is a team guy."

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