New York Giants Official Website

Giants Acquire K Lawrence Tynes
Big Blue sends conditional draft pick to Chiefs in trade.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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May 22, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Asked at the Giants' recent rookie mini-camp about the team's placekicking situation, head coach Tom Coughlin said, "It's a process."

The Giants today took a huge step in completing that process when they acquired Lawrence Tynes in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs for a conditional draft choice.

The Giants hope K Lawrence Tynes has plenty to cheer for as a member of the Giants.

In 2006, Tynes scored 107 points by hitting 24 of 31 field goal attempts (two of four from 50 yards and longer) and 35 of 36 extra point tires. He also had five touchbacks.

"Tynes is a veteran kicker who has kicked in some big games," general manager Jerry Reese said. "He has made some long field goals."

Tynes gives the Giants a veteran kicker to replace Jay Feely, who signed with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent. Since Feely's departure, the Giants had just two rookies at kicker: Josh Huston and Marc Hickok (who was signed on April 10 and released today).

"We feel better about having a veteran kicker coming in and competing for the job," Reese said. "We're not bringing him in to give him the job. He has to earn it. We feel like we have a strong young guy vs. a veteran kicker and the best kicker is going to win the job.

"We wanted a guy to come in here and put pressure on (Huston), who we really like a lot. Huston has a really strong leg. But we feel better about having a guy that's kicked in the league to come in and compete for the job, because we were basically handing it to (Huston) without a lot of competition. We want to put pressure on him to earn the job. And we want (Tynes) to earn the job as well. One of our goals is to have competition at every position."

The Giants' trade for Tynes is their second of the offseason. On March 9, the Giants acquired running back Rueben Droughns from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for wide receiver Tim Carter.

Tynes' first opportunity to kick in the NFL was in the Chiefs' 2001 training camp. He was released at the end of that camp. Tynes was re-signed by Kansas City early in the 2002 offseason and was allocated to the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe. He converted nine of 12 field goal attempts for the Claymores.

Tynes was again released by the Chiefs after the 2002 training camp and spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons with Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League. In two years, he succeeded on 71 of 87 field goal attempts (81.6 percent).

In 2004, Tynes was re-signed by the Chief and beat out the NFL's career field goal leader, Morten Andersen, in training camp to win the full-time kicking job. That season, Tynes hit 17-of-23 field goal attempts and 58-of-60 PATs to lead the Chiefs in points with 109.

In 2005, Tyens scored his career-high 125 points by converting 27-of-33 field goal attempts and 44-of-45 PATs. He was named AFC Special Team Player of the Week for after a game at Miami (10/21/05), in which he succeeded on attempts from 30, 51 and 52 yards to become just the second player in Chiefs history with two field goals of 50-plus yards in a single game.

Last season, Tynes again received AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors after converting all three of his field goal attempts (45, 40 and 19 yards) and two PATS for 11 points, including a game-winning 19-yard field goal with 1:36 remaining, at Arizona on Oct. 8.

Tynes played collegiate football at Troy State, where he made 45 of 62 field goal attempts and 127 of 131 extra point tries in his four-year career. His 45 field goals and 262 points are school records.

Tynes, who turned 29 on May 3, is the first Scottish-born player in NFL history. He was born in Scotland while his father served as a Master Chief in the U.S. Navy, but moved to the United States when he was 10. His mother, Margaret Ann, is a native of Scotland. Tynes spent most of his youth in Florida and considers Milton his hometown; he played for Milton High School.

Tynes is married (Amanda).