As was expected, the New York Giants will be releasing kicker Graham Gano in the coming days, according to a report by SNY.

Gano originally signed with the Giants as a free agent in 2020 after having spent seven seasons with the Carolina Panthers. Early in his time with the Giants, Gano was clutch, missing just one game in his first three seasons and twice topping the 90% mark on field goal conversions, including a a 96.9% conversion rate in his first season with the Giants.

Unfortunately, injuries began to take their toll on Gano starting in 2023, just after he had signed a three-year, $165 million contract extension in September of that year.

Gano suffered a knee injury that required surgery. He was limited to just eight games that year and had converted only 64.7% of his field goal attempts.

Gano would be plagued by injuries the next two seasons, dealing with a hamstring issue in 2024, which landed him on injured reserve, and then a groin issue suffered during pregame warmups in Week 3 of the team’s 2025 season.

Although he retired in 2025, he was struck down again, this time with a neck injury that required season-ending surgery. Gano’s injury-plagued 2025 season sent the Giants on an odyssey to find a reliable kicker.

That string that included former Rutgers kicker and Ireland native Jude McAtamney and Younghoe Koo, formerly of the Atlanta Falcons. Both of proved unreliable.

The Giants finally got some reliability out of the position when they picked up undrafted rookie free agent Ben Sauls, a left-footed kicker from the University of Pittsburgh who had had a stint with the Steelers’ practice squad. He came on board to settle things down at the position.

Gano was in the final year of his three-year extension and was due to count for $5.75 million against the cap.

The Giants, who signed former Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders to compete with Sauls in training camp this summer, will save $4.5 million on the transaction and take a $1.25 million dead-money hit.  

With the $4.5 million cap savings brought about by Gano’s release, the Giants will have approximately $7.590 million in cap space, according to figures provided by Over the Cap, money that will likely go toward signing their draft class selected next month.

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