Giants hoping a healthy Graham Gano can again become Mr. Automatic

The New York Giants’ 2024 season hinges on a particular player — quarterback Daniel Jones — successfully rehabbing from ACL surgery and returning to action 100 percent.

But there’s another knee the team will be keeping an eye on this summer. That of veteran kicker Graham Gano, who also missed the second half of the 2023 season with an injury to his left knee that required surgery.

The 37-year-old Gano’s injury was to his plant leg, not his kicking leg, and although it was reported in mid-October, he was not placed on injured reserve (IR) until November 3.

Gano, who had been hitting over 90 percent of his field goal attempts since becoming a Giant in 2020, was just 11-of-17 last year. He was also dealing with a right ankle issue early on in the year.

The Giants replaced Gano on the roster with Randy Bullock and Mason Crosby. Punter Jamie Gillan was also thrust into spot placekicking duty one week.

This spring, Gano — who is under contract until 2026 — was back on the field at OTAs kicking, but the Giants aren’t taking any chances. They will have former Rutgers standout Jude McAtamney on hand in case Gano should suffer a setback.

First-year Giants special team coordinator Michael Ghobrial is looking forward to working with Gano this summer and beyond.

“He’s a tremendous person to have in the room, a guy that’s seen a lot of football,” Ghobrial said at the Giants’ minicamp in mid-June. “He has great foot accuracy. You obviously see the explosive leg… So it’s been fun to work with him and to see his skillset in terms of the kickoff and field goal stuff. I’m excited for him to start off day one with us.”

Ghobrial also addressed the plan for Gano this summer, which will depend on how well Gano is coming along.

“I think you always have to monitor how many kicks a specialist has in general,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is that is like a conversation that you always have with the player. How are you feeling today? The biggest thing is you want to make sure they show up to the game healthy and ready to go. I’ve seen him do everything that I need to.”

That’s good news for the Giants. Gano has been a stalwart for them and they need all of the consistency they can get as they attempt to climb back into contention.