EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Undrafted free agent Dominic Zvada
put down the first marker of the New York Giants’ three-way placekicking competition during Saturday’s rookie minicamp practice. Zvada went 5 of 5 on field-goal attempts, the last two coming from 50 and 55 yards, to conclude the workout.Zvada, from Michigan, joins Ben Sauls and seven-year veteran Jason Sanders as kickers on the 90-man roster. Saults kicked for the Giants for the final three games of 2025. Sanders was with the Miami Dolphins
for seven seasons, but missed last year with a hip injury.
“It’s going to be a competition for sure right out of the gates. It already started,” head coach John Harbaugh said after Saturday’s workout. “You saw Zvada. That was his first iteration of that competition. Then we come in next week we’ll be kicking field goals. We go to OTAs. We’ll kick field goals pretty much every other practice. We may be kicking them every practice because we’ve got three guys to kick.
“We’ll just see how it shakes out.”
Zvada had two outstanding seasons as a collegiate kicker, and two mediocre ones.
- In 2022 at Arkansas State, Zvada made 17 of 18 field-goal attempts (94.4%).
- In 2023 at Arkansas State, Zvada made just 15 of 20 field-attempts (75%).
- In 2024 at Michigan, his best season, Zvada made 17 of 18 field-goal attempts (94.4%). He was also 7 of 7 from beyond 50 yards that season.
- In 2025, though, Zvada was just 15 of 22 (68.2%) on field-goal attempts.
For his career, he went 64 of 78 (82.4%) on field-goal attempts, 135 of 137 on extra points (98.5%) and 10 of 12 83.3%) on field-goal tries from beyond 50 yards.
“Really talented. He’s big, tall, rangy kind of guy. Big for a kicker you might say. Really strong leg,” Harbaugh said. “More than anything just the consistency. He’s got a vertical swing pattern as we call it. He does a nice job of getting downfield through the kick. Because of that he tends to kick a straight ball consistently. If you do that you’ll probably have a chance.”
It would certainly appear Zvada does.
Bustin’ out the Hood celebration
Second-round pick Colton Hood made the play of the day on Saturday, ripping a pass away from tryout running back Miles Davis for an interception.
“I just broke on the ball and made a play,” Hood said.
He didn’t want to but Hood ended up breaking the ‘Hood’ celebration he has become known for at the urging of defensive backs coach Addison Lynch.
“It’s practice. I’m not really going to celebrate on my teammates. It’s definitely going to come out when the season starts, for sure,” Hood said.
Harbaugh said of Hood that he “loved him in press” and thought he “looked really good.”
‘Real strong’ start for Malachi Fields
Third-round pick Malachi Fields was a favorite target of the tryout quarterbacks aiming to impress on Saturday.
“You see him on those slants today,” Harbaugh gushed. “He made every catch yesterday. Made one high catch over top of a corner one time.
“Real strong. It’s a good start for him.”
A natural
Harbaugh thought 10th overall pick Sisi Mauigoa had a “fantastic” day.
“Looked like a natural at guard,” Harbaugh said. “Sometimes things happen a little quicker. You’ve got to get out of your stance a little quicker. We’ll see when the pads come on. That’ll be another thing for him. Just seeing him go on their guard for the first time, I thought he looked really good. Looked like he’d been doing it his whole life.
Something in the way he moves
No. 5 overall pick Arvell Reese showed the Giants what they hoped to see over the past two days.
“You saw it on tape or you saw it at the workout at Ohio State. When you see it in person in your setting it’s more,” Harbaugh said. “I thought he moved well. He’s 6-4 plus. About 240 some pounds. Yet, he moves like a smaller guy. He moves his feet. He can flip his hips. Very natural looking mover off the ball. Which was something we saw on tape. Now we saw it on the practice field. So we feel better about it.”
Harbaugh was also impressed with how well Reese handled his assignments.
“Picks things up really quick. Very serious minded. Very diligent about the assignments,” Harbaugh said “I don’t think he got one assignment wrong throughout the two days.”
Lookin’ good at defensive tackle
The Giants have been active since the draft in adding to their defensive tackle room. They have signed D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris and Leki Potu, and claimed Zacch Pickens off waivers.
The position was a concern coming out of the draft.
“I’m very happy about it. I felt like it was part of our process. It’s not that we wouldn’t have drafted a defensive tackle or signed one sooner if they had become available or kept Dexter [Lawrence] if that was something we could do. Those were all things that were on the table,” Harbaugh said.
“But as it went, I thought we did a good job of kind of responding to the situation as it unfolded. And now we feel really good about our group in there. Our room looks good to me. I’m excited about it.
“I think we’ve got the guys we need.”
More notes
- Harbaugh wants to make the Giants bigger, stronger, and more physical. Tryout guard Guy Gilyard might be taking that to an extreme. Out of East Stroudsburg, Gilyard is listed at 6-foot-8, 410 pounds.
- There was confusion over whether offensive tackle Dodji Dahoue was a signed UDFA or a tryout player. He is a tryout player, though listed incorrectly on the roster handed out to media.
- The Giants did some 11-on-11 work Saturday, and drafted players did participate. That is a change from the Brian Daboll era, when drafted players did not work during team periods in rookie minicamp. “we’ve always done that,” Harbaugh said. “I feel like rookie mini camp is a chance to prepare these guys, all the guys, for what’s next.
