NY Giants: Top 5 kicker options to briefly replace Graham Gano
3. Aldrick Rosas* (currently on Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad)
Welp, I already know this suggestion will be met with some skepticism, to put it mildly.
However, when you really think objectively about the situation, bringing back former NY Giants kicker Aldrick Rosas to fill in for a week wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world — far from it, actually.
Rosas’ three-year NY Giants’ career was marred with ups-and-downs, as he sandwiched two underwhelming seasons around a 2018 All-Pro appearance: and that’s just concerning his on the field play.
Clearly, we all know by now that Rosas had an extremely unceremonious exit from the Giants this offseason as he made a foolish mistake to get arrested for a hit-and-run that he was strongly suspected of being intoxicated during. But, there is no denying that when Aldrick Rosas was on he was one of the best kickers in the entire NFL.
Still just 25-years-old, you’d be hard-pressed to find a kicker of his caliber and pedigree on the open market (or on a practice squad, in his case) in the middle of a season. Yet, that’s exactly the case as he is currently rotting away on the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad as he still tries to find a way to get back into the league in a meaningful way.
GM Dave Gettleman deserves a ton of credit for sticking with Rosas and his potential after a dicey rookie season in 2017, and the former Southern Oregon kicker repaid him with a dazzling 2018 campaign that saw him drill 32-33 field goals (97%), while also missing just a single extra point 31-32 (96.7% — and that missed XP was the result of a bad snap).
That type of production from a young kicker doesn’t come along often, and although his other two seasons surrounding that 2018 campaign he struggled to top 70% on field goals and 87% on extra points, he’s shown that at his best he can be an elite kicker.
To play devil’s advocate, I would tend to write off his rookie year struggles as just that, and his struggles as a third-year pro in 2019 as not having enough opportunities to get rolling as he only had 17 field goal attempts all season.
The four missed extra points in 2019 were inexcusable and seemed to come at all the wrong times for Big Blue, but it seemed as though he just never got into a rhythm as he only attempted 6 field goals over the team’s first 8 games.
Not to mention, two of those missed extra points came on a windy late November day in Chicago.
He displayed a big leg with a career-long of 57 yards and has looked more in line with his 2018 self in limited action with the Jags in 2020, converting 4-5 field goals (80%) before being forced to serve a four-game suspension for his offseason arrest, and in turn, losing his new opportunity to be their starter.
Now back on the Jags’ practice squad, he would be free for the NY Giants to sign away for a minimal investment and the team could do a lot worse for a one-week replacement.
It’s unlikely this will happen, particularly given head coach Joe Judge’s handling of DeAndre Baker’s legal battle and Golden Tate’s showboating during his rookie season as head coach.
If Rosas returns, he surely would have to inspire more confidence than Santoso.