Mid-Draft Free Agency Signing: Kicker Mike Nugent

The Bengals have signed former New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals and Ohio State University kicker Mike Nugent, according to a Joe Reedy tweet. Nugent is a bit more of a journeyman than many of us realized. I simply hadn't heard his name since he left the Jets 3 years ago. He's a career 79% field goal kicker, but is only 33% at 50+ yards. He's missed just two of 99 PAT tries in his career.

Nugent was a standout kicker at Ohio State, so much so that he was drafted in the 2nd round, 47th overall, by the New York Jets in 2005. He's relatively solid from 50 and in, and could be a local fan favorite for OSU fans in Cincinnati. Nugent had been 17/24 from 40-49 yards until he went 0/3 from that range in a terrible 4-game spell for Tampa last year. If nothing else, Nugent will spice up the kicker competition that looks to be absent of Shayne Graham.

Joe Reedy writes in his blog:

Nugent, a six-year veteran, was drafted in the second round by the Jets in 2005 and spent four seasons there. In 2007 he set a Jets record for field goal accuracy in (24-for-27, .889), and over two seasons (2006-07) made 19 consecutive field goals, which ranked second in Jets history. He suffered an injury in the first game of the 2008 season and spent the rest of the season on the roster as a gameday inactive.

Last year he signed as an unrestricted free agent with Tampa Bay and spent four games there before being released. He was signed by Arizona in December and kicked there for two games. In the six total games, he was 14 of 14 on extra points and 4 of 8 on field goals.