Nothing screams “the New York Giants have a kicking problem” like shuffling through five of them in a single season. It's simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, but that's exactly what happened in 2025.
Fortunately, it looks like their juggling efforts paid off with a potential long-term solution in Ben Sauls, but the process of getting there was an agonizing ride, to say the least.
Graham Gano kicked the season off as the starter before getting injured. Punter Jamie Gillan, the Scottish Hammer, even attempted a PAT in Week 3 after Gano was ruled out with a hamstring issue. Irishman Jude McAtamney briefly came in for relief until a brutal Week 7 showing in Denver. That opened the door for Younghoe Koo, who couldn’t cut it either, and was eventually replaced by the prince who was promised: one left-footed Ben 'Better Call Sauls' Sauls.
If only there were a way to dive deeper into their struggles and suss out how bad they actually were. Well, thanks to FanSided's new electric Kick Value Added (KVA) metric, we can do exactly that -- even if fans don't necessarily want to see the damage. Here goes nothing.
Giants' special teams nightmare finally quantified by KVA
Adam Fromal's analysis went about as good as it could have for the G-Men. Predictably, McAtamney and Koo placed incredibly. Gillan, admittedly, was only on the list because he attempted one PAT in relief of an injured Gano, but he still missed it... so. As for Gano and Sauls, going back-to-back inside the top 25 is at least something.
Here is how the rankings shook out:
- 39. Younghoe Koo, Atlanta Falcons/New York Giants: -5.6278 KVA
- Koo managed to lose a job with both the Atlanta Falcons (-1.5339 KVA) and New York Giants (-4.0939 KVA), even flat-out missing the ball on an attempted kick for the latter.
- 31. Jude McAtamney, New York Giants: -2.3259 KVA
- Former Gaelic footballerJude McAtamneyreached his nadir in Week 7 when he missed a pair of extra points -- the latter coming with 0:37 left and keeping the New York Giants up just two on the Denver Broncos, who marched down the field and won on a Wil Lutz 39-yarder.
- 27. Jamie Gillan, New York Giants: -0.9577 KVA
- Meanwhile, considerJamie Gillan a novelty inclusion. The New York Giants punter couldn’t connect on his lone extra-point try for the second consecutive year … but at least this one was blocked? Then again, the low trajectory might not absolve him of responsibility.
- 21. Graham Gano, New York Giants: 0.6882 KVA
- Gano had an efficient 2025 but only appeared in five games due to hamstring and back injuries.
- 20. Ben Sauls, New York Giants: 1.9881 KVA
- Sauls succeeded on every single one of his attempts, but he never received any opportunities to flex his southpaw style from distance. The Giants didn’t grant him a chance to hit from beyond 45 yards, giving him every reason to feel “jealous” of long-distance kickers like Cam Little, as he revealed to Big Blue View's Ed Valentine.
It might've taken general manager Joe Schoen five tries to finally get it right, but at least Sauls looks like the long-term answer. While Gano did play well last season, injuries continued to get in the way, causing chaos for Big Blue. This team handles adversity like Michael Scott handles being left out.
At this point, cutting ties with the soon-to-be 39-year-old to save $4.5 million in cap space this upcoming offseason and sticking with Southpaw Sauls is the only move.
This won't be the last time we deep dive into the kicking game. We're talking leg day like you've never seen before. Kickers are people, too!