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Bengals place-kicker Mike Nugent, who was given the franchise tag over the offseason, was noticeably absent from last week's OTA; though the team had Thomas Weber to perform kicking duties so it wasn't that big of a deal. According to Geoff Hobson with Bengals.com, Nugent returned to the field on Tuesday for the first day of the next round of OTA sessions.
Nugent signed his one-year franchise contract on April 25, guaranteeing him $2.654 million for the 2012 season. There have been rumblings that the team would like to sign Nugent to a long-term deal -- and considering the last kicker they franchised skipped town (and jeered out of Cincinnati), we're certain that the team would like to accomplish this sooner rather than later.
After recovering from a shredded knee in 2010, Nugent recovered and converted 33 of 38 field goals in 2011 and a team-record 132 points. Nugent, a former Ohio State Buckeye, is the team's place-kicker and kickoff specialist.