After an abrupt release from the Falcons early this season, veteran kicker Younghoe Koo delivered a perfect performance in his debut with the New York Giants.
After a tumultuous start to his 8th season veteran kicker Younghoe Koo has gained a starting role with a new team, the New York Giants. Koo’s debut with the Giants was a welcome sight going 2-for-2 on both field goals and extra points after stepping in for the injured Graham Gano.
Coming off a disappointing 2024 season with a career-worst 74% success rate, Koo faced significant pressure this year, including a preseason kicking competition with the Falcons. He won the job, but his time in Atlanta ended after going 2-for-3 on field goals – including a late-game miss in Week 1’s 3-point loss to the Buccaneers.
Just four days later Koo was signed to the Giants’ practice squad.
His recent struggles contrasts with the solid 86% career success rate earned through 183 career field goals. In 2020, Koo’s best season, he led the league with 144 points on 37 field goals. That 95% consistency was good enough to earn him Pro Bowl honors.
This isn’t the first time Koo’s career hit a rocky patch. As a Groza Award finalist at Georgia Southern, Koo went undrafted in 2017 before signing with the Chargers only to be cut 4 weeks into the season.
Unable to play in the NFL Koo joined the upstart league Alliance of American Football with the Atlanta Legends in 2019. He managed a perfect 14 for 14 with the team before AAF declared bankruptcy midseason. But Koo parlayed his AAF success into a practice squad position with the Patriots before being released, only to be acquired by the Falcons in October.
While at Georgia Southern Koo made a school record 88.6% of his field goals and went 19 of 20 his senior season. In his junior year he went viral by hitting a trick shot, complete with backflip.
Koo was born in Seoul and played soccer as a kid. He moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey at 12 to live with his mother, a nurse, while his father stayed in Korea to continue his professorship. At Ridgewood High Koo was more than a kicker — he tallied 4 interceptions to earn MVP honors his senior year.
Sunday will mark his first home game with the Giants at MetLife Stadium, just 13 miles from where he grew up.
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