Anthony Rivardo
New Giants head coach John Harbaugh walked into the spring with three legs to sort through and a kicking operation that had been a problem for two seasons. He is walking out of it with one obvious answer, and the man providing it was not on an NFL roster three months ago.
Undrafted rookie Dominic Zvada has turned what looked like a muddy three-way audition into a runaway. With the veteran option already gone and the incumbent leaking makes, the Giants’ kicking job is now Zvada’s to lose.
A Perfect Minicamp Settled the Audition
Zvada was flawless when it counted most this spring. He connected on all 13 of his attempts during the team’s open OTA practice and then went a perfect 8-for-8 on the opening day of mandatory minicamp. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, who watched both sessions, called Zvada the “heavy favorite” for the job.
The competition has not kept pace. Ben Sauls, the second-year leg the Giants kept around from 2025, made just 4 of 8 on that same minicamp day and missed half of his 12 attempts in the final open OTA, according to Big Blue View. The Giants thinned the room further when they released veteran Jason Sanders on June 2 to clear a roster spot, and Sanders has since signed with the Jets. That leaves the Giants with just two names at placekicker: Sauls and Zvada. Right now, only one of them is making everything.
A Record-Setting Leg at Michigan
The accuracy is not a fluke of one good week. In 2024 at Michigan, Zvada converted 95.5 percent of his field goals, a single-season program record, and went a perfect 7-for-7 from 50-plus yards on his way to Big Ten Kicker of the Year honors, per Pro Football Reference and his Michigan profile.
His senior year cooled off, which is part of why he went undrafted. Zvada hit 17 of 25 in 2025, a more pedestrian 68 percent, with a long of 56 yards. The Giants are betting the 2024 form is closer to the real player than the 2025 dip.
| Season | FG Made/Att | FG % | 50+ Yds | Honors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (Michigan) | 21/22 | 95.5% | 7/7 | Big Ten Kicker of the Year |
| 2025 (Michigan) | 17/25 | 68.0% | 2/3 | Long of 56 |
A Roster That Cannot Afford Missed Points
The stakes here are bigger than a camp battle. The Giants’ kicking game was crippled the last two years, first by injuries to Graham Gano and then by a parade of inconsistent replacements, and Gano is no longer on the roster. For a team built around an elite front seven and a young quarterback in Jaxson Dart, leaving points on the field is the kind of self-inflicted wound a fringe playoff roster cannot keep absorbing.
Harbaugh, a special-teams obsessive by background, knows exactly what a reliable leg is worth in January. Zvada has given him 21 straight makes this spring, and no reason to look elsewhere. The undrafted kid is no longer a camp story. He is the plan.
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