NY Giants pull off Ryan Santoso trade with Panthers as Joey Slye struggles

The NY Giants acquired a conditional seventh-round pick from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for backup kicker Ryan Santoso 

The NY Giants found a buyer for backup kicker Ryan Santoso, trading him to the Carolina Panthers Thursday, in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick, sources confirm to FanSided.

According to a report from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Giants will receive a seventh-round pick from Carolina.

The Panthers trading for Ryan Santoso is a bit of a surprise for the NY Giants

Santoso always faced an uphill climb to make the NY Giants’ roster, given that New York signed veteran kicker Graham Gano to a long-term extension last fall.

Throughout this summer during training camp and the preseason, Santoso had flashed a strong and accurate leg.

It isn’t too big of a surprise that the Panthers acquired Santoso, given that Joey Slye has struggled mightily throughout training camp and has made just 79.4 percent of his field-goal tries over the past two seasons.

But, the Panthers clearly had significant interest in Santoso, because he was likely going to be released during the NY Giants’ final cuts later this month.

Matt Lombardo is FanSided’s National NFL Insider and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday. Email Matt: Matt.Lombardo@FanSided.com.