The New England Patriots reportedly plan to sign veteran kicker Mike Nugent to replace injured starter Stephen Gostkowski.
Gostkowski reportedly has a left hip injury that requires season-ending surgery. Nugent won Gostkowski's job amid a competition that included several free agent kickers, per reports. He'll be only the fourth kicker for the Patriots in the Bill Belichick era -- Adam Vinatieri, Shayne Graham and Gostkowski are the others.
Nugent has been around the NFL a long time as a 14-year veteran. The 37-year-old was a second-round draft pick of the New York Jets in 2005 after a very successful career at Ohio State that included a 2002 BCS National Championship.
Here's what Patriots fans need to know about Nugent.
Stats
Nugent has played in 134 career games, and the Patriots will be his eighth different team. He signed with the New York Giants in August of 2017 but was released before the regular season started.
He's 253-of-311 on field goal attempts (81.4 percent) in his career. Here's a breakdown by distance: 5-of-5 on attempts 1-19 yards, 80-of-81 from 20-29 yards, 78-of-93 from 30-39 yards, 77-of-102 from 40-49 yards and 13-of-30 from 50-plus yards.
Might we see the Pats go for 2-point conversions more often with Nugent in the fold? He's hit on just 75 percent of his field goals from 40 to 49 yards and only 43 percent of attempts from 50-plus yards out.
New England Patriots
Nugent has played in 11 games between the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders over the last two seasons. He made 17-of-19 field goals and 19-of-22 extra points during that span.
Nugent has hit 363-of-377 extra point attempts in his career.
CBS Boston's Michael Hurley tweeted a statistical comparison between Nugent and Gostkowski from 2014 through 2018:
Kickoffs
Could we see rookie punter Jake Bailey and his powerful right leg take over kickoff duties with Gostkowski sidelined? Nugent averaged 61.3 yards with six touchbacks on 14 kickoffs in 2018. Gostkowski was averaging 64.9 yards with 21 touchbacks on 26 kickoffs through four games this season.
Career at Gillette Stadium
Nugent is 9-of-11 on field goals at Gillette Stadium. He's 11-of-11 on extra points in Foxboro.
Playoff Career
Nugent has played in five playoff games (with zero wins) between the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals. All five were AFC Wild Card games. His last playoff appearance came in 2015 with the Bengals. Here's his postseason game log:
2006 with NYJ: 1 GP, 3-of-3 on FG, 1-of-1 on XP
2011 with CIN: 1 GP, 1-of-2 on FG, 1-of-1 on XP
2013 with CIN: 1 GP, 1-of-1 on FG, 1-of-1 on XP
2014 with CIN: 1 GP, 1-of-1 on FG, 1-of-1 on XP
2015 with CIN: 1 GP, 1-of-1 on FG, 1-of-1 on XP
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