The New England Patriots are signing kicker Mike Nugent, according to multiple reports.
The likely addition of Nugent comes after the Patriots placed Stephen Gostkowski on injured reserve on Wednesday. He is dealing with a season-ending hip injury. He finished the year hitting 7-of-8 field-goal attempts but had four extra-point misses over four weeks.
Nugent has played on eight NFL teams since entering the NFL as a second-round pick in 2005 with the New York Jets. The kicker was most recently with the Oakland Raiders in 2018 when he was 4-of-4 on field-goal attempts and 7-of-9 on PATs.
Nugent has played the role of fill-in kicker over the last two seasons in Oakland and Chicago. In 2016, the Cincinnati Bengals released him after 13 games when he missed five PATs in five games. Prior to that, he started 16 games in four of five seasons. His career field goal percentage is 81% and his PAT rate is 96.5%.
It’s unclear whether Nugent or punter Jake Bailey will take charge of the kickoff duties. Bailey spent some time in the preseason in the role.
