Mike Nugent Signing: Giants Add Veteran Placekicker

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There is now officially a competition for the New York Giants’ placekicking job. The Giants on Tuesday announced the signing of veteran placekicker Mike Nugent. He joins Aldrick Rosas, who has never kicked in a regular-season game, on the Giants’ 90-man roster.

The Giants had a roster opening after the retirement of Jadar Johnson.

Nugent, 35, is entering his 13th season in the NFL.

Nugent made 23-of-29 field goals and extra points last season for the Cincinnati Bengals, a percentage of 79.3 percent. Only four kickers with at least 25 attempts had a lower percentage. Per Sporting Charts, the average field goal percentage in the NFL last season was 83.73. Twenty-eight of Nugent’s 62 kickoffs (45.2 percent) went for touchbacks.

Our own Dan Pizzuta is not impressed by the signing.

Rosas, a former NAIA kicker who was in camp with the Tennessee Titans a year ago, had been the only kicker on the roster. He has been impressive, but it seemed inevitable that the Giants would eventually bring in competition.

Nugent was a second-round pick by the New York Jets in 2005. He kicked for the Jets for four years, split 2009 between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals, and spent the last seven seasons with the Bengals. He was released by Cincinnati with three games remaining last season.

Nugent has made 236-of-292 field-goal attempts (80.8 percent) and 344-of-355 extra point tries in his career.