Giants' John Harbaugh: Kicker competition a 'good problem to have'

We knew when John Harbaugh took over the reins as head coach of the New York Giants that there would be upgrades not only on offense and defense but on special teams.

Harbaugh began his NFL coaching career as a special teams coordinator, and, given the recent struggles his new team has had in that area, it was apparent that changes were in order.

The Giants have a new punter (Jordan Stout) and will have a new long snapper, which will play itself out in training camp. Another position that will be decided in training camp and the preseason is kicker, where holdover Ben Sauls is battling undrafted rookie free agent Dominic Zvada for the job.

Thus far, Zvada has looked better, but Harbaugh isn’t about to declare a winner this early. There’s still plenty of time for Sauls to make his case.

Giants kicking competition Day 2

Ben Sauls 3-5 today, 8-14 total

Dominic Zvada 5-5 today, 13-13 total

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) June 9, 2026

“I was talking to Ben out there. I feel like this is preparation for training camp, which is where the competition will really heat up,” Harbaugh told reporters on Tuesday following the Giants’ second day of workouts at their mandatory minicamp.

“The good thing about that is with Ben’s misses, they’ve all been left, if you’ve noticed. They’ve all been pushed left. It’s the same exact miss every time. That’s a good problem to have. He knows the problem with it from a technique standpoint. He’s just got to lock in and fix it. He’ll do that. I’m confident in it.”

Harbaugh was reminded that it has been Zvada that has stolen the show thus far.

“He has looked good. Same thing you’ve seen,” Harbaugh said of Zvada. “You haven’t seen as many of the practices. What you saw yesterday was what he’s been all the way through. He’s been consistent and done a good job.”

It sounds like the Giants may have solved their kicker problem, but they’ve been here before. Training camp under Harbaugh promises to be different. He’s reminding everyone how much he likes it.

“What do I like about training camp? It’s all football all the time. If you love football, you love training camp,” he said. “I love every day waking up and starting football and doing football all day and going to sleep and waking up and doing football again. For a coach, it’s the funnest thing ever. Players might not agree, but coaches do.”

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ John Harbaugh: Kicker competition a ‘good problem to have’