New York Giants to Sign Kicker Graham Gano

The Giants are planning to sign veteran kicker Graham Gano after he passes his physical and COVID-19 testing. The news of the Scottish born kicker’s pending transaction was first reported by another Scottish born kicker who wore the Giants uniform, Lawrence Tynes.

Graham Gano is in for a visit with the Giants. Will do Covid testing protocol and physical later this week.

He’s healthy, born in Scotland, moved to the US at the same age I did. Scottish Kicker part✌🏼.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #NFL #Giants
— Lawrence Tynes (@lt4kicks) August 16, 2020

The news comes as no surprise considering general manager Dave Gettleman’s familiarity with Gano, who was the Panthers kicker from 2012-19. The 33-year-old Gano initially began his career with the Ravens in 2009 but lost that kicking competition to Stephen Hauschka. Gano then resurfaced with the Washington Football Club in 2009, spending three seasons with the Giants’ NFC East foes.

Gano found his stride in 2012, his first year with the Panthers, who in 2014 signed Gano to a four-year $12.4 million contract. Gano missed the last four games of the 2018 season with an injury in his plant leg. He would then go on to miss the entire 2019 season when his injury didn’t improve.

Gano has appeared in 134 NFL games and has converted 224 out of 273 field-goal attempts (82.1%), which includes 97 out of 130 attempts of 40 or more yards (74.6%) and 20 out of 35 attempts of 50+ yards(57.1%).

The Giants, who signed kicker Chandler Catanzaro at the start of camp, did so on a one-year, $910,000 contact with no guarantees. That classifies him for a veteran salary benefit contract that only counts $750,000 against the cap after he made the decision to unretire and after the Jets, who last held his rights, relinquished them.

Catanzaro has appeared in 77 games and has made 119 out of 142 field-goal attempts (83.8%) in his career, his best season coming in 2015 when as a member of the Cardinals, he converted 90.3% of his field-goal attempts.

Catanzaro has also converted 182 out of 196 extra-point tries (92.9%). He is 34 of 46 on field-goal attempts between 40-49 yards and 10 of 16 on field goals of 50+ yards.

It’s unclear if the Giants plan to carry two kickers the rest of camp or replace the right-footed Catanzaro with Gano. The Giants could carry one of the kickers on the practice squad if they choose as the practice squad rules have been altered to allow for 16 players to be kept, including four with an unlimited number of accrued seasons.