After placing three-time Super Bowl winner Stephen Gostkowski on injured reserve yesterday with a hip injury, the Patriots have signed journeyman Mike Nugent to be their new placekicker.
Nugent has 164 NFL games under his belt and has played for six teams (Jets, Bengals, Bears, Raiders, Cardinals and Cowboys. The 37-year-old has a career FG completion percentage of 81.4 but has been fairly shaky from 50 yards or more (13/20) throughout his career.
Looks like kicker Mike Nugent will be No. 2. pic.twitter.com/pvElZXNEYD
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 3, 2019
The 14-year veteran played in three games for the Raiders last season before being placed on IR with a hip injury. During those games, Nugent went 6-for-6 on field goals and 4-for-5 on extra points.
It’s somewhat curious the Pats decided to go with Nugent, a former second-round pick, as one of his main problems as a kicker was missing extra points, the same issue that was plaguing Gostkowski (four misses) this season.
In his last extended stay in the NFL, Nugent missed six extra points in only 13 games and was so much of a liability that Vegas sportsbooks were setting odds on whether or not he’d miss the extra try.
2014-18
Mike Nugent
89-for-109 FGs (81.7%)
85-for-98 on FGs less than 50 yards (86.7%)
54-for-59 on FGs less than 40 yards (91.5%)
129-for-139 PATs (92.8%)Gostkowski
166/185 FGs (89.7%)
153/166 on FGs < 50 yards (92.2%)
107/110 on FGs < 40 yads (97.3%)
254/264 PATs (96.2%)— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) October 3, 2019
Given that, it’s possible the Patriots will go for it more on fourth down and attempt more two-point conversions with Nugent kicking instead of Gostkowski.
Though his teams are 0-5 in the playoffs, Nugent has played in big games before and had a very successful career at Ohio State that included a 2002 BCS National Championship.
Regardless, it seems as if Nugent will have a short leash as the Patriots also signed former Chargers’ kicker Younghoe Koo to their practice squad.
Should Nugent falter, Koo would seemingly get the next shot at replacing Gostkowski.
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