Dominic Zvada hasn’t played a single regular-season snap for the New York Giants yet, and I'm already trying to put the 22-year-old in the record books. Don't tell me to relax -- you relax.
The undrafted rookie out of Michigan went from fighting Ben Sauls for a roster spot this summer to winning the kicking job outright, parlaying his impressive offseason with a perfect nine made kicks (five field goals and four extra points) that included a 53-yarder.
Now comes the fun part: Zvada has a legitimate shot at breaking a Giants rookie record that’s 21 years older than he is. The age gap between Zvada and Ali Haji-Sheikh’s record could legally consume pints at the local pub.
Dominic Zvada has a real shot at rewriting Giants rookie history
Former Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh has owned the franchise’s rookie scoring record since 1983, when he piled up 127 points by making 35 field goals and 22 extra points.
Nobody has really come close since.
Saquon Barkley’s ridiculous rookie season in 2018 produced 92 points. Odell Beckham Jr. scored 72 despite playing only 12 games in 2014. Even Jaxson Dart running into the end zone nine times last season only got him to 54.
Turns out scoring points is considerably easier when that’s basically your entire job.
Zvada needs 128 points to take the record outright, which works out to a little more than 7.5 per game over a 17-game season. That’s hardly an outrageous number for a starting NFL kicker, especially one who spent the summer showing new head coach John Harbaugh that he can hit it from 60-plus.
Zvada drilled a 53-yarder in the preseason finale and has shown off his leg from considerably farther during practice. He left the Wolverines with plenty of experience bombing kicks from 50-plus yards (his career-long was 56 yards), so Harbs shouldn’t be afraid to send him out there even if they're only a couple of yards over the 50.
That’s what makes Zvada such an interesting candidate to finally knock Haji-Sheikh off the top of the rookie leaderboard. Barkley needed one of the greatest debut seasons by a running back in franchise history to reach 92. Beckham scored 12 touchdowns and still finished 55 points short.
Zvada can make up that ground three points at a time without ever needing to find the end zone, while adding another anytime someone else puts six on the board. Seems a little unfair when you put it that way.
Of course, I'm talking about an undrafted rookie who hasn’t attempted an NFL field goal that actually counts yet, so maybe I shouldn’t get anything engraved just yet. Still, 127 points over 17 games?
Keep that 127 number somewhere in the back of your mind. A few months ago, Zvada was an undrafted rookie trying to win a job. By the end of the season, he might have his name sitting atop a Giants record that’s been there since 1983.
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