Is NY Giants signing kicker Stephen Gostkowski a good idea?

The NY Giants may soon be in need of a kicker and many have proposed bringing in former New England Patriot, Stephen Gostkowski, as a result.

If you’ve been living under a rock for the last week (lucky you), there’s a legitimate possibility the NY Giants may end up needing a new kicker for 2020 and beyond.

Even though some don’t consider kicker a critical position on a roster, I do, and as such am very much in favor of holding onto our current 24-year-old kicker that has an All-Pro nod under his belt, mainly due to us rebuilding.

Would a 36-year-old Stephen Gostkowski – who missed most of 2019 with a hip injury – really be a positive move for the rebuilding of the NY Giants?

I say no.

If we were in a different situation where Big Blue was a Super Bowl contender in 2020 we would be having a much different conversation. That type of big-game experience would come in very handy in a situation like that

Any reasonable person knows that’s not the case, and in my opinion, every move we make from here on out needs to be with a focus of the years past 2021.

Just imagine a scenario where we sign Stephen Gostkowski, he does a decent job on a 7-9 2020 NY Giants team.

Aldrick Rosas, though, immediately signs with a team and shows he was actually the guy we thought he was in 2018 — because it’s a very possible one.

Does his injury make him too risky for the NY Giants and explain his weak 2019 season?

I’m no doctor (how many times have we heard that in the last three months), but I don’t think a kicker having a hip injury – especially at 36 – is a minor thing. That’s likely the reason every team in the NFL, not just the NY Giants, has stayed away from Gostkowski.

It’s worth noting that Gostkowski was slated to make $4.25M in 2021, a top of the line rate for a kicker.

So, it’s entirely possible that Bill Belichick used his tried and true model of extracting everything he can out of a player and knowing the right time to let them go.

If anyone would know, it’s our head coach, former Patriots special teams coach, Joe Judge. Luckily for us, we’ll have the best knowledge on the matter out of the entire NFL due to him coaching Gostkowski and being with the same team last year should this become a real scenario.

I’ve often joked that if Bill Belichick doesn’t want a player, stay away because that guy might not have much left. I think this could be another perfect example of that, and with the NY Giants needing to continue to focus on getting younger – and better – taking on Gostkowski makes little sense.

I mean, there are 31 other teams out there and how many really solid, year-in-year-out kickers there are in the NFL? 5-10? Tops?

That’s not a good indication for Gostkowski, even though he says he’s not ready to hang it up and wants to play in 2021. He may not have a choice in that matter though, unfortunately.

Gostkowski had a mediocre year for his golden standard, as his main struggles came from extra points in the form of a terrible 11-15 effort (73%) — imagine how nice it would be for the NY Giants to have to kick 15 extra points in four games.

NY Giants still investigating Alrick Rosas matter

Then there is the factor of the NY Giants issuing their statement regarding Rosas to essentially be that they are going to investigate the details before making a decision; a timeframe was not given on that.

Obviously we are supposed to presume people are innocent until proven guilty in this country, but from what has been reported this one looks pretty cut and dry.

So for now, it seems, the NY Giants are just kicking their tires and taking more time to make a decision.

If the decision is in fact made to go ahead and cut Aldrick Rosas, this also becomes a different conversation. Although Big Blue aren’t Super Bowl contenders in 2020, the team still wants to win every game it possibly can and Gostkowski is pretty much the best available kicker in a barren market.

Still, it wouldn’t be ‘Gostkowski-or-bust’, as Dave Gettleman could find a diamond in the rough in the ranks of the UDFA.