For what feels like forever, the New York Giants metaphorically kicked their special teams struggles down the road, hoping the problems would eventually sort themselves out.
It was an interesting strategy -- and one that inevitably cost special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial, place kicker Graham Gano, punter Jamie Gillan, and head coach Brian Daboll their jobs.
So much for taking the passive approach.
With new head coach John Harbaugh running things, Big Blue's third-phase unit is going to be anything but overlooked. In fact, there's a good chance the polar opposite happens, with special teams taking a much more prominent role in North Jersey. I guess that's just what happens when a special teams guy through and through like Harby takes the wheel.
While kicking nightmares have made up most of the trouble, it already feels like the G-Men have found the perfect solution in undrafted rookie free agent Dominic Zvada. The 22-year-old has put on an absolute clinic at OTAs and mandatory minicamp, not missing a single field goal.
Which is exactly why it's so interesting that Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski listed "find a dependable kicker" as one of the Giants' biggest remaining to-dos for the 2026 offseason.
They might have already solved that problem with Zvada.
Giants might've found a diamond in the rough in UDFA rookie kicker Dominic Zvada
To say the Giants' kicking situation over the past couple of years has been a tire fire would be a massive understatement. The 2025 season was the peak of incompetence. They cycled through five kickers to eventually settle on 2025 UDFA Ben Sauls, who made all 15 of his kicks (eight field goals and seven extra points).
Naturally, the 24-year-old entered the 2026 offseason as the favorite to keep the job. But Harbs wasn't going to just hand it to him without some zesty competition.
Instead, New York chose chaos. It started with them cutting ties with Graham Gano. They then brought in former All-Pro Jason Sanders, who looked totally lost at OTAs before getting cut almost immediately.
That should have paved the way for Better call Sauls to run away with the gig, but an offseason case of the yips crushed that reality. He struggled mightily through OTAs before completely flopping at mandatory minicamp, finishing up the spring going 19-of-36.
That disaster opened the door wide open for Zvada-matic to get a major leg up (pun intended), which he did, making every last one of his attempts.
The kicker spot isn't the only piece of the third-phase puzzle that got a facelift, either. Jamie Gillan is out, and All-Pro punter Jordan Stout is in.
Even the long snapper spot is undergoing a youth movement. Casey Kreiter left in free agency, and after the team briefly signed and released Zach Triner, the job fell to another undrafted rookie, Ben Mann. In a cool twist, his grandfather Chuck Mercein actually played for Big Blue back in the day.
So while some might think the Giants still need to sort out their kicking competition, Dominic Zvada has all but shut that down before training camp even starts. Consider that to-do, to-done.
Add us as a preferred source on Google