Johnny Townsend
AP Photo

The New York Giants reportedly claim punter Johnny Townsend off of waivers, decide to waive punter Ryan Anderson.

Big Blue continues executing special teams transactions as they search for concrete answers.

On Wednesday, Dan Salomone of the New York Giants official website reported that the team has claimed punter Johnny Townsend off of waivers. Townsend previously played for the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders drafted Townsend in the fifth round (No. 173 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft. In 16 games last year, Townsend recorded 70 punts for 3,022 yards (43.2 yards-per-punt).

Oakland decided to waive Townsend on Tuesday, as the Giants claimed him on Wednesday. He’ll now compete with punter Riley Dixon, who played in every game for the Giants last season.

Additionally, the Giants decided to waive rookie punter Ryan Anderson, who went undrafted out of Rutgers University. Anderson was selected to the All-Big Ten First-team in 2017, a season in which he had 79 punts for 3,508 yards (44.4 yards-per-punt) through 12 games.

Anderson also spent time with the Birmingham Iron of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football this year. The rookie originally signed with the Giants in May after impressing coaches at their rookie minicamp. Big Blue waived him on Wednesday, the same day they signed Townsend.

With the starting punter job up for grabs, the Giants will most likely be set on Aldrick Rosas for their starting placekicker job. Rosas made the Pro Bowl last season, one year removed from his disappointing rookie year.

After connecting on just 72% of his field goals and 87% of his extra points in 2017, Rosas was successful on 97% of his field goals and 96.9% of his extra points last season.

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Ryan Honey is a staff writer and host of the Wide Right Podcast.