Injuries already have the New York Giants playing “specialist roulette” and it’s only Week 3 of the 2024 regular season.
It’s only Week 3 but the New York Giants’ special teams are already a revolving door.
First, the Giants lost returners Isaiah McKenzie and Gunner Olszewski to injuries and last week, had to play without a kicker after Graham Gano tweaked a hamstring on the opening kickoff and was ruled out.
This week, the Giants signed veteran kicker Cory Joseph to spell Gano, who was placed on injured reserve (IR). But he has yet to be named the starter.
Joseph will apparently still have to beat out practice squadder Jude McAtamney for the role.
“It’s going to be good competition between him and Jude,” special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said on Thursday. “I think at the end of the day, you always want to have multiple specialists on your roster.
“Jude, again, (we) have ultimate confidence in him and his ability to go out there and have success. And then the same thing with Greg. The thing that Greg has is obviously the experience of kicking in games and obviously the good production with that. And then Jude, like I said, had a very promising preseason.
“So, it’s not necessarily a lack of what he still needs to prove or still needs to show. We’re going take it down the wire and figure out who gives us the best chance to win in Cleveland.”
At returner, the Giants signed Ihmir Smith-Marsette last week but he did not get on the field. It appears he may have been the primary punt returner but there was one catch — the Commanders did not punt in the game.
“Honestly, him being here for a little bit over a week now, you’re excited for him to get those opportunities,” Ghobrial said. “The thing I love about him is he’s not going necessarily… He’s a great teammate and you could feel that already. When he gets his opportunities, he’s going to be excited to take advantage of that. So, the person has definitely checked all the boxes.
“The player has checked all the boxes. He approaches the game the right way. In practice, he’s always asking questions on exactly where we want things to unfold. Obviously, we’re excited for him when he gets his opportunity to go out there and have success.”
The Giants have been using running backs Eric Gray and Tyron Tracy Jr. as kick returners. Gray, if you recall, was a disaster in that role last year as a rookie. So far, he’s averaged 25.0 yards per return on six attempts with no turnovers.
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