Former Rutgers Kicker Jude McAtamney Excited to Join Giants

Few players in this year’s NFL Draft have had as unique a path to the NFL as Irish-born kicker Jude McAtamney, who signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent.

McAtamney, an Ulster Under-20 Gaelic football champion with Derry in 2018, told ESPN's Laurie Horesh he was inspired to pursue a potential NFL career after a friend committed to Georgia Tech in 2020.

McAtamney, a native of County Londonderry in Northern Ireland, then embarked on his journey, making stops in North Carolina and Australia (where he worked with Prokick Australia, which trains punters and kickers) before landing in Piscataway, New Jersey, home to Rutgers University, where he spent two seasons, the first as a do-all kicker and then last year as a kickoff specialist.

During the Scarlet Knights' 2022 season, the 6-2, 205-pound McAtamney played in all 12 games, finishing 12-for-18 on field goals, with five of his attempts coming at 40+ yards (including a long of 49 made twice). He also finished as the team's scoring leader with 59 points.

Last season, McAtamney was more of the school's kickoff specialist. In 13 games, he set a Rutgers school record with 40 touchbacks on 60 kickoffs, with zero going out of bounds. McAtamney earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. 

His production didn't necessarily have scouts banging down his door, so he took advantage of his opportunities, starting with his showing at Rutgers' pro day, where he went 17-of-20.

That was good enough to earn an invitation to the Giants' local pro day, where he went 10-for-10 on live kicks.

Things went so well for McAtamney with the Giants that he was offered a contract with $2,500 in guaranteed money. 

McAtamney's path to the Giants' 53-man roster isn't going to be easy. While he's likely to get a fair amount of opportunities to showcase his leg this summer as Scottish-born incumbent Graham Gano completes the final stages of his rehab from knee surgery, Gano is projected to be the team's kicker once he's fully cleared medically.  

But that won't discourage McAtamney, who appreciates the opportunity to put together some film for the league. He will be among the rookies at this weekend's rookie minicamp that begins on Friday.