Patriots reportedly sign kicker Mike Nugent
Stephen Gostkowski was placed on injured reserve Wednesday.
The Patriots signed veteran kicker Mike Nugent, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday afternoon.
Nugent will replace Stephen Gostkowski, whom they placed on injured reserve Wednesday. Gostkowski will reportedly have season-ending hip surgery, which prompted the Patriots to host a series of workouts ahead of their Week 5 matchup against the Washington Redskins.
The 37-year-old Nugent had the most NFL experience of all the candidates, having kicked for seven teams. After getting drafted 47th overall in 2005, he began his career with the New York Jets, where he made 82.4 percent of his field goals and 97.6 percent of his extra points. His career field-goal percentage is 81.4 and his career extra-point conversion rate is 96.3.
Most recently, Nugent played in six games for the Oakland Raiders in 2018, making all six of his field-goal attempts, including one from 50-plus yards, and all but one of his extra-point attempts.
Nugent, an Ohio native, attended Ohio State and was a member of the 2002 national championship team. He broke or tied 22 school records.
The Patriots also signed kicker Younghoe Koo to their practice squad, Schefter reported. Koo, a free agent who worked out for the team Thursday, was also among the group of kickers to work out for the Chicago Bears when they released Cody Parkey this offseason.
The South Korea-born Koo has NFL experience, playing in four games for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017. He made three of his six field-goal attempts, with all the misses coming in the 40- to 49-yard range, and made all nine of his extra points. Koo was waived after Week 4 that season.
“I think Koo is going to have a long NFL career,” coach Anthony Lynn said. “A lot of rookies get cut early in their career, and they come back and play for a lot of years.”
In January, Koo signed with an AAF team. The 25-year-old didn’t miss a kick during the league’s brief existence.
Nugent and Koo beat out several players in tryouts this week, including:
Josh Gable: Gable is a YouTube sensation, going viral for nailing kicks from 70- and 80-yards out. A former professional soccer player, Gable previously worked out for the Patriots in May 2017 but has no NFL experience. He most recently played for the Tuscon Sugar Skulls of the Indoor Football League (IFL), making six of his 16 field-goal attempts last season.
Kai Forbath: Forbath, 32, went undrafted in 2011 but still found a place in the league. The UCLA product signed with the Washington Redskins, setting the record for consecutive field goals to start an NFL career with 17 in a row. He finished his tenure with the Redskins as the second-most accurate kicker in franchise history, making 60 of his 69 field-goal attempts.
Forbath went on to kick for the New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, and Jacksonville Jaguars. He was released by the Jaguars in February.
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