The New York Giants have released kicker Jason Sanders as the corresponding roster move to make room on their 90-man roster for wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Sanders, a 30-year-old former All-Pro, was considered a potential steal for the Giants and an upgrade to an unsettled kicking situation. He was one of the Giants’ first free agency signings of the John Harbaugh era, agreeing to terms on March 10th during the legal tampering period, which was taken as a mark of how serious Harbaugh was about
improving the Giants’ special teams.
Sanders was locked in a kicking competition with Ben Sauls and 2026 UDFA Dominic Zvada. Our own Ed Valentine reported from OTAs last week that Sanders was struggling to navigate the conditions at the Meadowlands. The former Miami Dolphin kicks with a high trajectory, which exposes the ball to the Meadowlands’ infamous swirling winds, and kept pushing his kicks off course.
Releasing the veteran Sanders leaves the Giants with a pair of very young kickers in Zvada (22) and Sauls (24).
Zvada had a down year in 2025 at Michigan (perhaps due to the program’s overall dysfunction that extended far beyond the field), but was both rock-solid and a legitimate weapon in 2024. Sauls, meanwhile, finished the season as the Giants’ kicker. His presence stabilized the position, and he was perfect on both field goals and extra points.
The decision to release Sanders was made even more intriguing by the decision on Monday to release veteran long-snapper Zach Triner. Releasing Triner leaves UDFA Ben Mann as the only long-snapper on the Giants’ 90-man roster.
The kicking operation is a delicate affair, particularly as teams look to regularly attempt field goals from well beyond 50 yards. At that range, even small errors are magnified, with fractions of seconds and degrees being the difference between a make and a miss. Teams also rarely have patience for unreliable specialists, considering how often games can pivot on their play.
That’s why teams typically shy away from young kickers and long-snappers, given the fact that they are frequently on the field in high-leverage situations. That makes Harbaugh’s seeming confidence in the two youngsters interesting to say the least.
The Giants could continue to churn their roster and bring in fresh veteran competition. On the other hand, leaning into the youth movement could give them a kicking battery that can grow together for the next 10 years.
