Three weeks ago, we labeled veteran kicker Graham Gano a potential cap casualty for the Giants. At the time, we weren’t sure where his potential replacement would come from. We made note of the team’s signing of Jude McAtamney to a reserve/futures deal, but drew more attention to the litany of established, veteran kickers available on the free agent market. According to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports, while special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial praised the way Gano closed out the 2024 NFL season, the second-year coach left the door open for a kicking competition this summer with McAtamney. 
Gano has been with the Giants for the past five seasons, putting up some of his best seasons from 2020-22. Unfortunately for Gano, Ghobrial only joined the staff last season. When Ghobrial came in, he would’ve looked at a 2023 campaign that saw Gano miss six of 17 attempts and only appear in eight games before coaching Gano through last year’s 10-game performance in which he converted nine of 11 attempts.
Gano is under contract for the next two years, but his recent injury issues (a knee injury in 2023 and a groin injury in 2024) put the Giants in a difficult spot. His current contract has a potential out built in that makes the dead money of his contract fairly manageable. Cutting him now would leave the team with $1.25MM of dead money and $4.42MM of cap savings. Graham closed out last season strong, but the recent history of regression and injuries makes his hold on the kicking job a bit tenuous.
The Giants initially turned to veteran Greg Joseph as an injury replacement for Gano last year but gave McAtamney a shot off the practice squad later in the season. He wasn’t asked to do much, but he did convert the only two kicks — a 31-yard field goal and an extra point — that he attempted.
Looking back at his capabilities, McAtamney didn’t draw much interest coming out of college. A Northern Ireland-native, McAtamney attempted to join ProKick Australia to develop for a chance to play collegiately, but COVID-19 kept him from traveling down under. Instead, he worked with former Ray Guy Award winner Tom Hackett in Serbia until they were cleared to travel to the states. McAtamney started his American football career at Chowan University, converting six of 10 attempts and 47 extra points for the Division II program.
He transferred to Rutgers after a year with the Hawks and won the starting job for the Scarlet Knights. After only converting on 12 of 18 field goal attempts, though, he ultimately lost the kicking job to Jai Patel, though he retained kickoff duties. The Giants noticed McAtamney at his pro day, where he converted all 10 attempts in front of scouts. The team invited him for a tryout and, eventually, signed him as an undrafted free agent.
At the moment, it looks like the job is Gano’s for the taking in New York, but McAtamney continues to lurk in the background and seems to be doing enough to remain in contention. If McAtamney can impress this summer, the combination of Gano’s cap impact and his recent struggles with injury may open the door a little wider for McAtamney to kick his way through.