Alexander Wilson
The New York Giants do not need to pretend kicker is a small thing anymore. It sounds small until it costs you games, and the Giants have lived that movie too many times.
Now they finally look like a team treating the position like a real competition.
Dominic Zvada is only an undrafted rookie, but he has the kind of clean-slate upside that can turn a summer kicking battle into an actual roster problem. Jason Sanders has the experience. Ben Sauls has a perfect small-sample finish from last season. Zvada has the leg, the college production, and the chance to make the veterans sweat before camp really starts.
Zvada already has their attention
The Giants have a good old-fashioned kicker competition, and Zvada is right in the middle of it. The former Michigan All-American and 2024 Big Ten Kicker of the Year showed leg strength in windy conditions at rookie minicamp, which is exactly the kind of first impression a rookie kicker needs.
John Harbaugh did not exactly hide his interest either.
“Really talented,” Harbaugh said of Zvada, praising his size, leg strength, and consistency. He also said the competition has already started, with Sanders, Sauls, and Zvada all expected to kick throughout OTAs.
The approach makes sense. The Giants have no reason to hand this job to anyone in May. Make them earn it.
The Giants had to reset the room
The Giants used four kickers last season, with Graham Gano struggling to stay healthy for the third year in a row before the team moved on. The competition is not some random camp luxury. The Giants needed a real reset at the position.
Sanders gives them a veteran option with an All-Pro background after making 90% of his field goals in 2024. Sauls made all eight field goals and seven extra points over the final three games, which is enough to deserve a look. He was injured all of 2025, though, with a severe hip injury.
Zvada is the upside swing. He drilled 21 of 22 field goals at Michigan in 2025, hit from distance, and brings the kind of power that changes late-half math. If that leg translates, the Giants may have found more than a camp body.
The rookie can make this uncomfortable
Kicker competitions are weird because the gap between making the roster and getting cut can be one ugly week. Zvada does not have to win the job in May, but he can absolutely make the Giants think twice if the ball keeps jumping off his foot.
The real question is consistency. Big legs are fun, but coaches trust kickers who repeat their motion, handle pressure, and do not turn routine kicks into adventures. Zvada has to prove the college resume was not just a nice story.
The Giants need stability, not nostalgia, and not a default veteran choice just because it feels safer. If Sanders wins the job, fine. If Sauls keeps his perfect streak alive and carries it through camp, fine. But Zvada has enough talent to steal the conversation before the preseason even starts.
For a team trying to climb out of years of thin margins, this is exactly the kind of position battle that should matter more than people want to admit.
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