When Giants kicker Graham Gano suffered a knee injury that would require surgery and a stint on injured reserve, the team made two moves to cover their bases. First, New York added veteran journeyman kicker Randy Bullock to their practice squad and, second, they signed second-year kicker Cade York off of the Titans’ practice squad to their active roster.
Despite having York on the active roster, requiring no transactions for him to play, the Giants opted to instead use one of their two weekly practice squad elevations on Bullock for each of the past three weeks. So far, so good for Bullock who has yet to miss a kick in game action. After not being asked to even attempt a kick in his first elevation, Bullock has gone 6-for-6 on extra points and 2-for-2 on field goals in the two games since, with a long of 40 yards.
Now, the NFL’s practice squad elevation rules mandate that a player can only be elevated three times on their practice squad contract. If the Giants were hoping to utilize Bullock in any more game action, they would have to sign him to the active roster. The team signaled such a move was coming when they waived York two days ago.
Now without a kicker on the active roster, New York has officially made the move of signing Bullock to the 53-man squad, according to Pat Leonard of NY Dailey News Sports. In addition, they signed York back to the team on a practice squad contract, effectively swapping the two kickers’ positions on the roster.
New York now has the ability to play Bullock without needing to elevate him each week, and York, who hadn’t made an in-game appearance during his three weeks on the active roster, is no longer using up a precious roster spot while remaining inactive. It’s unclear if Gano has a chance of returning from knee surgery this year, but in the meantime, Bullock has done a good job filling in and should continue to do so.
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