Andrew Buller-Russ
Now that former Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh is on the scene, there’s a lot of competition brewing ahead of the New York Giants‘ training camp. From a bundle of receivers jockeying for position and competing for roster spots to a rebuilt defensive line room that’s moving on without Dexter Lawrence, there’s a lot at stake for a healthy portion of the team’s current 90-man roster.
But that’s not all.
While the situation won’t get nearly as much attention, the Giants also have a starting competition at kicker, and coach Harbaugh does come from a special teams background, so you can bet he’ll be not only paying close attention, but also playing a heavy hand in the development of Ben Sauls and undrafted rookie Dominic Zvada.
However, as The Athletic‘s Giants insider Charlotte Carroll recently analyzed, the current favorite to win the job, Sauls, isn’t off to a great start during the team’s offseason activities thus far. He’s struggled so much, that now Sauls could be looking at losing his roster spot to an undrafted rookie.
“Veteran Jason Sanders was the presumed favorite going into the spring, but he went 7-of-11 on field goals in open practices this spring and was released,” Carroll wrote. “That leaves undrafted free agent Dominic Zvada and second-year player Ben Sauls, who finished last season as the Giants’ kicker, going 8-for-8 on his field-goal attempts. Despite Sauls’ impressive debut, Zvada appears to be the frontrunner. Sauls made only 19 of his 36 field goals this spring in open practices. Meanwhile, Zvada made 13-of-13 field goals at minicamp.”
If Sauls can’t iron out his early issues, Carroll suggests the team may have no choice but to bring in more outside competition that would threaten the roster spot Sauls and Zvada are fighting for.
“If Sauls can fix his issues, the kicker competition will actually heat up in training camp. In the meantime, we’ll see if another veteran is brought in to add to the competition.”
The Athletic’s Charlotte Carroll
The issue is that there aren’t many veteran free agent kickers available. The list includes Younghoe Koo, Matt Prater, and Austin Seibert.
Koo spent six games with the Giants last year. He was released after making just 4-of-6 FG attempts. The Jets recently signed Koo, but he was let go in favor of Jason Sanders once the Giants released the latter. Prater turns 42 in August, but he appeared in 15 games with the Bills in 2025, making 18-of-20 FG attempts.
Seibert, 29, hasn’t been on a team since 2024, when he made 27-of-30 FG attempts with the Commanders. Seibert may be able to be a longer-term solution, yet the two-time Pro Bowl Prater undoubtedly has a higher ceiling. Thus, if the Giants don’t like what they have, don’t be surprised to see one of the names above resurface in New York.
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