Heading into their Week 2 contest against the Commanders, Giants kicker Graham Gano was dealing with a groin injury. Unfortunately, on the opening kickoff of the game, Gano injured his hamstring while attempting to tackle Austin Ekeler. As a result, Gano was unable to return to the game, forcing the Giants to turn to punter Jamie Gillan as their emergency kicker.
Head coach Brian Daboll faced criticism for allowing Gano to play with a pre-existing injury, especially since the team had a backup kicker on the practice squad who was not activated for the game. As a result, New York found themselves without a healthy starting kicker. To address this issue, the Giants have signed veteran kicker Greg Joseph from the Lions’ practice squad to fill in for Gano, who is now on the injured reserve list due to his hamstring injury.
Greg Joseph Joins the New York Giants from the Lions’ Practice Squad
The New York Giants are signing my client Greg Joseph to their active roster from the Detroit Lions p-squad. 7-yr vet kicked for the Vikings the past 3 seasons and holds NFL record for game-winners in a season (5), Vikings record for longest FG (61 yds), & led NFL in TB% in ’21.
— Brett Tessler (@TesslerSports) September 17, 2024
Over his last two seasons, Graham Gano has struggled with injuries while playing for the New York Giants. After joining the team in 2020 and initially playing in at least 16 games each season, Gano’s availability has been limited. In 2023, he only managed to play eight games due to injuries, leading the Giants to cycle through multiple kickers. Now, Gano is expected to miss a significant portion of the season with his current hamstring issue. Throughout his five seasons with the Giants, Gano has maintained an accuracy of (87.9)% on field goal attempts and (95.1)% on extra points.
With Gano sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Giants needed to bring in a new kicker. They opted to sign veteran Greg Joseph from the Lions’ practice squad. Joseph had spent the past three seasons with the Vikings, appearing in all 17 games each year and boasting an (82.2)% field goal percentage. His overall career field goal accuracy stands at (82.6)%. Notably, Joseph holds the NFL record for most game-winning field goals in a single season (5) and also owns the Vikings’ record for the longest field goal with a 61-yard kick, which interestingly occurred against the Giants in 2022. Now, Joseph finds himself on the field for New York.
