New York Giants signing veteran punter Matt Haack

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll came under serious heat earlier this season when he let kicker Graham Gano play in a game with an already injured hamstring.

That decision resulted in Gano being placed on injured reserve (IR) after aggravating the injury and appearing in just two games this season.

Gano didn’t have a backup, so his loss after the opening kickoff left the Giants scrambling for a kicker.

Looking to avoid that same fate with punter Jamie Gillan, who is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals with a hamstring injury, the Giants are signing veteran punter Matthew Haack after working out several punters on Friday.

With Giants punter Jamie Gillan listed as questionable for Sunday night’s game vs. the Bengals due to a hamstring injury, the team is signing veteran punter Matt Haack, per source.

Haack won the work out Friday with five punters and now is expected to punt in his 100th NFL game. pic.twitter.com/bu0YqCJo8c

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 12, 2024

For the first six seasons of his career, Haack didn’t miss a game for whichever team he signed with. In 2023, he only played in one game for the Cleveland Browns and didn’t play anywhere else.

Over his seven-year career, Haack has punted 432 times. His longest punt was 70 yards, and his average is 44.5 yards.

Gillan is a better punter than Haack, and the Giants have come to rely on him, so if he can go on Sunday then he will. But Daboll learned from his mistake with Gano and is getting a backup plan in place for the Giants’ primetime outing this week.