Why NY Giants Made Right Call Regarding Their Kicker Situation
The New York Giants made the right choice in going with Graham Gano as the only kicker on their active roster headed into Week 8.
Gano has missed the last four games following a groin injury suffered during pre-game warmups in Week 3. When Gano has been on the field, he has been a solid kicker for the Giants; however, injuries have kept him off the field consistently over the last three seasons.
After playing in every game during the first three seasons of his Giants tenure, he has missed 20 games over the last three years.
Gano's injury history over the last three seasons raises concerns. Still, given the injury situation the Giants are dealing with at other positions, wasting a spot on a second kicker who would likely have been inactive would not have made sense.
Safety Jevon Holland has been ruled out of this week’s game, which set off a chain of events in which Dane Belton, who has been a special teams dynamo for the Giants, will draw the starting assignment, thereby having his special teams work reduced.
That’s where Raheem Layne, elevated from the practice squad, fills in the gap. Layne gives the Giants depth at safety and can fill in for Belton on special teams.
On the other side of the ball, although wide receiver Darius Slayton will be back for Week 8 from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the last two games, he was a limited practice participant this past week, raising concerns about whether he’s truly 100%.
With that being a possibility, elevating Lil’Jordan Humphrey makes sense just in case Slayton aggravates the injury.
What about Gano, who has three times now had something happen injury-wise in a game? Are the Giants playing with fire by running him out there without a backup plan?
Perhaps, as no player is 100% exempt from the injury bug striking at any time, but the good news is Gano took his full practice reps, which special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial this week estimated was anywhere between 20-45 balls during the week, spread out over two days, and didn’t need to have his workload dialed back.
Gano, when healthy, has mostly been reliable. He has not missed a PAT in the last three seasons, and his consistency in that department will give the Giants something they were missing in last week's loss.
If he is indeed fully healthy, as the Giants believe, he will also give the Giants a long-range kicking game that they haven’t had since he went down with an injury before Week 3. Gano has converted on six-of-seven of seven field goals of 50+ yards during the last three seasons.
The Giants are in a less-than-ideal spot with their current kicking situation, as Gano’s injury history doesn’t inspire much confidence in his ability to handle the kicking duties long term. That’s understandable.
But again, given the injury issues at other spots, carrying two kickers on the active roster was a luxury the Giants’ brass felt it couldn’t afford.
Cowboys Trade Pitch Adds $36 Million Starter for Draft Pick
The one thing about the struggles of the Cowboys defensively in the first part of this 2025 season has been that, though the unit might not evoke fear around the league at full strength, the fact has been, it’s not been at full strength all year. Whether it’s injuries suffered throughout the season—as in corners Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland, or defensive lineman Kenny Clark—or injuries players had coming into the year, it’s been a banged-up unit.
The hope is that more help is coming back, most significantly, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, who has been coming back from a knee injury he suffered last December.
But even Overshown’s return to the middle of the defense might not be enough—it’s still weeks away, and it will take him time to get fully into game shape. The Cowboys need an answer at linebacker, and fast.
As things stand, the team’s primary linebacker, Kenneth Murray, has played 483 snaps, 99% this season, and ranks as the worst linebacker in the league, according to Pro Football Focus, which has him at No. 78 out of 78 graded linebackers.
Cowboys Need Linebacker Help Now
With the NFL trade deadline approaching, the Cowboys need to address the situation regardless of Overshown’s progress. At the contract-expert site Spotrac, guru Mike Ginnitti has the Cowboys looking at a swap for one of the most likely available players on the market: Cincinnati’s Logan Wilson.
Said Ginnitti on “The Spotrac Podcast” this week: “The name to watch, I think is Logan Wilson. He is an inside linebacker that seems to be Dallas’s biggest need. I send him to Dallas … I don’t think they’re going send a player back, I think it’s just going to be a later-round pick. So let’s use that 2026 fifth-round pick that they have on the books. Send that to Cincinnati for Logan Wilson.”
Cowboys Open to Trades Before Deadline
The Cowboys have made clear that they’re willing to make moves to improve the team, and with a juggernaut offense on one side, Dallas just needs the defense to be a league-average unit, and it should thrive.
Said coach Brian Schottenheimer this week of the team’s front-office brain trust—owner Jerry Jones, his son Stephen Jones and personnel president Will McClay:
“We’ll always look at everything. You know that. Jerry, Stephen and Will, they’re always open for business. This time of year, you kinda let those guys focus on it because we’re so busy game-planning and all that stuff, but I am very pleased with the way the guys played.”
Logan Wilson Likely to Be Moved at NFL Trade Deadline
As for Wilson, the Cowboys would welcome him and the Bengals are looking to move him on in the coming weeks. He is in the third of a four-year, $36 million contract, but the team has an out on his contract after this season.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote this week: “The Bengals are going younger at linebacker, relegating Wilson to a reserve role in favor of rookie Barrett Carter despite Wilson’s status as a team captain. Teams I’ve talked to believe Cincinnati is open to dealing Wilson.”
Wilson is 29, and was a third-round pick of the Bengals in 2020. He has been in Cincinnati his entire career, and with a grade of 58.6, he ranks No. 48 among linebackers at PFF—not a star, but an improvement over Murray.
