The New York Giants have been ravaged by injury this season and no position group has managed to avoid the nightmare, including the team’s kickers.
Back in early November, the Giants lost veteran Graham Gano to a knee injury. He was replaced by Randy Bullock, who also landed on injured reserve (IR) this week as the result of a hamstring issue.
Bullock was forced to leave a Week 15 game against the New Orleans Saints and was replaced by punter Jamie Gillan, who also endured an injury in that contest.
With two kickers on IR and their punter ailing, the Giants are expected to elevate Cade York from their practice squad on Christmas Day against the Philadelphia Eagles. He will technically become their fourth kicker of the season.
“It’s a lot,” special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said on Wednesday. “But I told you this early in the season, I said you don’t want to get on the kicker train, because the destination is unknown. Because you don’t know. Once that train gets rolling, you never know where it’s going to end. But it is what it is, we’ll make the adjustments, we won’t make any excuses, just keep it moving.”
The 22-year-old York was originally on the Giants’ 53-man roster but they opted to elevate and start Bullock instead. Once his elevations ran out, the team waived York and signed Bullock to the active roster before adding York back to the practice squad.
McGaughey had a hunch they might need to go back to York, so they’ve continued working with him.
“He’s getting better. He’s working at it,” McGaughey said of York. “Young specialists are always a work in progress, so those guys are always trying to find a routine, trying to tweak certain things and just work on those small details of what he’s doing. Being around Randy and Graham has been huge for him.
“It’s almost unheard of. Even during the offseason, this rarely happens. But he’s been taking advantage of it. And I told him, this is a godsend for you to be able to be around two veteran kickers that have had double-digit years that have both started over 150 games, played in 150 games, in the same building as you at the same time. That’s big for him.”
York started 17 games for the Cleveland Browns last season but was inconsistent. He made just 75 percent of his field goal attempts and missed two point after attempts. Now he’ll have to lace up his cleats and start for the Giants on Christmas Day in Philadelphia, where it will be cold and windy. And very loud.
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