The 2-12 New York Giants try for the ninth time this season to earn their third victory on Sunday when they host the 6-8 Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET. Here are some of the storylines
to follow.
That pesky No. 1 pick
The Giants, thanks to how awful they have been, currently hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Many in the fan base are hoping they lose their final three games and keep it, putting whoever the general manager is in position to trade that pick for a haul of Day 1 and Day 2 draft assets that could help jump start a turnaround.
Players? They just want to experience the feeling of winning again. It is, after all, the reason they play the game.
“If you’re a true competitor, every time you step on the field, you’re trying to win the game,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said on Tuesday. “We haven’t gotten a win, but we’re, that’s what we’re trying to do.
“Every week we’re trying to go 1-0. The past is the past. All we can do now is take advantage of the opportunities we have left.”
Which side will get what they want this weekend?
Can Abdul Carter do it again?
The Giants waited far longer than they thought they would have to for No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter to have a dominant game like the one he has Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
That was nice. Almost since the moment the Giants came off the field Sunday afternoon, though, the message for the rookie has been that he needs to do it again. And again. And again. One week, one time did not prove anything.
“I’m happy he had his little game, but you have to come back and do it next week,” Lawrence said. “That’s greatness.”
Lawrence said Carter did it “for one week,” but that’s not enough.
“Greatness is doing it over weeks. Being consistent,” Lawrence said. “That’s what he can get to.
“His ceiling is through the roof. There’s a lot that goes into this game and us as vets have got to help him understand that and teach him that. He’s just got to keep going, keep trusting the process and not growing weary of it and just keep growing.”
Interim head coach Mike Kafka, who benched Carter in two of the first three games after he took over, said the rookie has “got to keep on stacking those days” of proper practice and good play.
Another new placekicker
The Giants have not yet officially announced that rookie Ben Sauls will be the replacement for Younghoe Koo, waived on Tuesday after badly missing a pair of field-goal attempts in Sunday’s loss to the Washington Commanders.
Elevating Sauls from the practice squad, where he has been since being signed in early November, is really the only thing that makes sense.
The Giants’ placekicking situation has been a mess since the middle of the 2023 season, when Graham Gano suffered a knee injury that limited his effectiveness and ultimately landed him on injured reserve.
Ironically, before Gano went on IR in 2023, then-special teams coach Thomas McGaughey warned about the dangers of the “kicker train.”
“You always want to have the veteran guy. When you have a proven guy, you don’t want to give away a proven guy. You get a guy that’s done it for a long time,” McGaughey said. “Because I tell people this all the time: once you get on the kicker train, the destination is unknown. So, when you’re on that train that’s been steady, and you know the destination, you know exactly where you’re going, you like to ride on that train. But when you get one you really don’t know, you think you know, but you really don’t know until you know, you could be anywhere. You can look up and you could be halfway across the world before you find another one. That kicker train is dangerous. It can take you anywhere.”
It has taken the Giants on a wild ride, and far too often veered off the tracks and into the wilderness.
In 2023, Gano, Randy Bullock, Mason Crosby and punter Jamie Gillan all attempted placekicks for the Giants.
In 2024, the Giants used Gano, Gillan, Greg Joseph, and Jude McAtamney.
Despite all of that, the Giants brought Gano back this season. They have gone through Gano (twice), McAtamney, Gillan, and Koo in 2025.
With kickers around the NFL making 55-65-yard field goals look routine, the Giants make the 33-yard extra point an adventure.
Could the 24-year-old Sauls be the solution? In 53 games at Pitt, he made 52 of 64 field goals (81.3%) and 122 of 124 extra points (98.4%).
His three-game audition should begin against the Vikings.
