#10 – Punter
Heading into the offseason it seemed fairly obvious the Giants needed an upgrade at kicker. Aldrick Rosas connected on just 72 percent of his field goal attempts, ranking worst among NFL kickers with a minimum of 20 attempts.
But instead of moving on from Rosas, the Giants elected to cut punter Brad Wing. The news didn’t come as a shock given Wing’s play. He had the leagues’ worst net average (36.7) in 2017.
The Giants had few options in free agency. They were reportedly interested in Pat O’Donnell. The 27-year-old decided to re-sign with the Chicago Bears on a one-year deal. New York’s other two free agent options Dustin Colquitt and Kevin Huber returned to their respective teams on three-year contracts.
The Giants do have punter Austin Rehkow under contract. The 23-year-old has yet to take a regular season snap and averaged just 41.6 yards per punt in his senior year at Idaho.
Big Blue will have some options in the upcoming draft. They could also look to sign an undrafted prospect. Texas punter Michael Dickson is considered the top punter in this year’s draft class. He would immediately solve New York’s need for a punter, but the Ray Guy Award winner could be off the board as early as the fourth-round.
Big Blue’s six draft selections are all in the first five rounds. It’s unknown if Gettleman would be willing to use a draft selection on a punter. He did use a draft pick on kicker Harrison Butker just last year, but that was Carolina’s seventh-round draft selection (No. 233).
Florida’s Jonny Townsend and Alabama’s J.K. Scott are two other notable punters in this year’s draft class.
It may not seem like a glaring hole, but the Giants do need to address the punter position. At the very least they need to bring in competition for the specialist role.