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Giants courting kickoff specialist
By Ralph Vacchiano
Tom Coughlin wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of carrying two kickers when he was basically forced to do it back in 2008. But maybe he’s warming to the possibility again.
Rhys Lloyd, the strong-legged kickoff specialist for the Carolina Panthers, is scheduled to visit with and kick for the Giants on Tuesday, according to his agent, Frank Murtha. However, the 27-year-old is scheduled to visit the Minnesota Vikings tomorrow, so his visit with the Giants will only happens if he leaves there without a deal.
It’s not clear whether the Giants are looking at Lloyd just as a kickoff specialist or as a possible challenger to incumbent kicker Lawrence Tynes. They have looked at other kickers several times in the past year, including ex-Cowboys kicker Nick Folk, who tried out for the Giants last week before he signed with the Jets.
Lloyd was scheduled to be a restricted free agent, but he wasn’t tendered by the Panthers. That made him unrestricted, which means the Giants can sign him without owing Carolina any compensation.
Tynes has come under fire for his kickoffs at times. He had 86 kickoffs last year, but only six touchbacks. Lloyd, in 72 kickoffs, had 21 touchbacks. The year before he recorded a touchback on 30 of 88 kickoffs. In fact, Lloyd has been so good that last August Tynes said he studied film of Lloyd to help him improve his own kickoff game.
Having two kickers might not be Coughlin’s preference, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented. He did it in ‘08 when Tynes hurt his knee in training camp and John Carney was brought in to start the season as the team’s kicker. Carney went most of the season without missing, though, so Tynes was never able to win his job back.
The two of them were only active for the same game once, when Carney handled field goals and Tynes handled kickoffs.
