The Giants didn’t just add a punter this offseason. They made Jordan Stout the highest-paid one in NFL history, betting big on a specialist who can tilt the field in ways that don’t always show up in the loudest numbers.
Stout signed a three-year, $12.3 million deal in free agency, with $7.3 million guaranteed and a $4.1 million annual average. That kind of investment says the Giants see more than a leg. They see a hidden-yardage weapon, the sort of player who can quietly change possessions with the kind of directional, boomeranging punts he showed at minicamp.
The appeal is easy to see. In 2025, Stout punted 53 times for the Ravens and finished with a 44.87-yard net average, best among all 32 qualified punters, according to PFF.
He also uncorked a 74-yard long, third-best at the position, and pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 26 times. That production earned him First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, and it’s a big reason John Harbaugh and special teams coordinator Chris Horton wanted him as the centerpiece of a rebuilt specialist room.
Through the first days of minicamp, Stout was already standing out in a completely revamped Giants special teams unit. His punts had that low, spinning flight that can turn a return into a problem before the ball even lands.
Still, the profile isn’t spotless. Stout’s 53.9 PFF punting grade ranked 31st out of 32 qualified punters in 2025, a jarring mismatch with his top-ranked net average.
His 4.14-second average hang time was the second-lowest among qualified punters, and that helps explain why returners got chances against him. He allowed a 43.4% return rate, which ranked 27th, and he had seven punts out of bounds, tied for the most in the league, while also finishing with just six fair catches, tied for the fewest.
That’s the tradeoff with a punter like Stout. The low, line-drive style can make the ball harder to track, but it also gives return men a head start and leaves less time for coverage to get downfield.
Harbaugh, though, knows exactly what he’s buying. He built his Baltimore reputation on treating special teams like a real phase of the game, not an afterthought, and he targeted Stout specifically once he got the Giants job. The hope is that what PFF sees as inconsistency is really part of the design - that those directional, boomeranging punts are difficult enough to handle even without big hang time, and that Horton’s coverage unit can shrink the return-rate issue on its own.
For now, the Giants are paying premium money for a punter whose best traits already look elite. Training camp and the preseason will tell the rest of the story. That’s where Horton’s scheme gets tested, and where Stout’s low hang time either becomes a manageable detail or a real problem once the games count.
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