EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants’ new kicker is in the house – or, more accurately, in MetLife Stadium, their training camp headquarters.
The team today announced the signing of Chandler Catanzaro, a six-year veteran who did not play in the NFL last season.
Catanzaro, 29, becomes the leading contender to replace Aldrick Rosas, the kicker the previous three seasons who was released this week.
Catanzaro joined the Jets as a free agent on March 15, 2019 but announced his retirement on Aug. 11, three days after missing two extra point attempts in a preseason loss to the Giants. The Jets last week released Catanzaro from their reserve/left squad list.
Catanzaro had previously played five seasons for Arizona, the Jets, Tampa Bay and Carolina. In 77 regular-season games, he has made 119 of 142 field goal attempts (83.8%) with a long kick of 60 yards. Catanzaro has connected on 10 of 16 attempts from 50+ yards (62.5%). He has also hit 182 of 196 extra point tries (92.9%). Catanzaro has scored 539 career points.
In addition, he has touchbacks on 236 of 387 kickoffs (61.2%).
Catanzaro has also kicked two field goals and five extra points in three playoff games.
He entered the NFL in 2014 out of Clemson as an undrafted free agent with the Cardinals. As a rookie, he kicked a career-high 29 field goals (in 33 attempts), hit all 27 of his extra point tries and helped Arizona finish 13-3 and advance to the NFC Championship Game.
The following year, he scored a career-high 137 points, in part because he kicked 53 extra points, his highest total. In Catanzaro’s final season in Arizona in 2016, he scored 106 points and kicked 21 field goals, including a career-long 60-yarder at Buffalo on Sept. 25.
Catanzaro signed with the Jets as a free agent in 2017, when he made 25 of 30 field goal attempts and scored 104 points. The following season, he played nine games for the Buccaneers and four for the Panthers and was successful on 16 of 20 three-point tries.
A South Carolina native, Catanzaro originally joined Clemson’s football team as a walk-on. He went on to play in 53 games from 2010-13 and was a three-time All-ACC selection and two-time semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, presented to the nation’s best kicker (2011-12). Catanzaro finished his career as the school’s career scoring leader with 404 points. He made 67 of 82 field goal attempts (81.7% pct.) and a school-record 203 extra points (on 207 tries).
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