Graham Gano‘s New York stay will extend beyond this season. The veteran kicker signed an extension to stay with the Giants, who now have him under contract through 2026.
The Giants will bet on Gano holding his form into his late 30s, as he is going into his age-36 season this year. It is a $16.5M deal, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport tweets, adding the agreement also includes $11.3M fully guaranteed. An additional $2M in injury guarantees are also part of this deal.
Formerly with Washington and Carolina, Gano has been the Giants’ kicker since 2020. This marks the experienced specialist’s third contract with the Giants. After signing him to a one-year deal in 2020, Big Blue extended him during his first season with the team. Gano has now signed extensions with both the Dave Gettleman and Joe Schoen regimes. Considering his performance and Schoen’s willingness to bet on Gettleman-era acquisitions, this latest agreement is unsurprising.
Gano made 90.6% of his field goal tries last season and connected on 96.7% of them in his first year with the Giants. Even in an unideal kicking environment, Gano hit almost 88% of his tries in 2021. The Giants gave Gano the opportunity to relaunch his career after a missed 2019. Gano, who once hit a 63-yard game-winner to beat the Giants in 2018, suffered a fractured femur late in the 2018 season. Carolina doctors are believed to have initially misdiagnosed that injury. The malady led to him missing all of the 2019 campaign. Matt Rhule’s 2020 Carolina arrival led to Gano being cut, and he soon found a new home in New York.
With Mason Crosby, Robbie Gould and Ryan Succop not on rosters, Gano enters this season as the NFL’s third-oldest active kicker. Only Matt Prater (39) and Nick Folk (37) surpass him in that category.
Gano connected on 8-of-9 attempts from 50-plus yards last season after going a combined 12-for-16 from 50-plus from 2020-21. It is understandable the Giants were interested in extending this partnership.
This marks Schoen’s fourth major agreement with a Gettleman-era acquisition this year. It follows the Daniel Jones, Dexter Lawrence and Andrew Thomas re-ups. While Gano’s checks in on a lower-profile level, this contract will give him an opportunity to approach the 20-season mark.
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