Giants Special Teams Units Earn a Surprising Final Ranking in Annual Evaluation

Not much went right for the 4-12 New York Giants in 2021, but if there was one phase of the ball that seemed to come out smelling like a rose, it was the special teams units.

Longtime sportswriter Rick Gosselin, who evaluates and ranks the 32 NFL special teams units every year, is out with his final 2021 special teams rankings. According to Gosselin’s system, “each team is ranked in 22 kicking-game categories and assigned points according to their standing – one for best, 32 for worst.”

How did the Giants, who already had a solid special teams coordinator in Thomas McGaughey but whose head coach, Joe Judge, had a solid special teams background, do overall?

Surprisingly, very well. The Giants finished overall with a score of 332. Just ahead of them were the Ravens (241.5), Colts (272), Seahawks (276), Chiefs (298.5), Saints (299.5), Cowboys (301), Lions (310.5), Bills (316.5), and Bears (330).

In the individual categories, the Giants had the league’s top kickoff coverage unit, allowing an average of 17.81 yards per return. They were also tied with the Lions for the third-best opponent starting point (23.8-yard line) and were ranked second (43.5 yards) behind the Jets (41.9 yards) in opponent punting and fifth in opponent net punting (39.0).

Giants kicker Graham Gano, who didn’t miss a PAT, tied for first with the kickers from the Bills, Eagles, Ravens, and Falcons in that category.

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Gosselin didn’t go into all the other categories, but a quick look at the league stats offers some clues as to where the Giants would have placed if the rankings for each category were flushed out further.

The Giants (87.9 percent) finished tenth in field goal conversion percentage. In the punting category, they were 24th in net punting yards (39.5) but tenth overall in punting average (44.4 yards). The Giants were also tied for sixth with three other teams for most punts (26) placed inside the 20-yard line.

The Giants, who had six punt returners in 2021 due to injury and performance, finished 23rd in punt return average (7.6 yards per return).

Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, who has orchestrated the Giants special teams since 2018, is currently drawing interest around the NFL for his services from teams such as the Chargers and Panthers.

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